Sonadow: Hero's Heart Corrupted
by Queensonicspeed
Summary: SONADOW! My very first story! Sonic and Shadow with their friends are kicking back at Sonic's house when they receive a mysterious delivery from the unknown. When an unbelievable terror happens, Sonic and Shadow are left in struggle with their situations, and possibly their feelings. Sucky summary, better story. This does contain language later on. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: Mysterious Drop-off

**Hello everyone and welcome to my first story! :D Yes, it may seem sucky at first, but it may get better along the way. ^^' Thanks for reading this and please review so I know how good of a job I am doing! And as already stated in the title, this is a Sonadow story so if you don't like this ship, please kindly leave and find another story to read! I don't need unnecessary flames! XD Please enjoy! :3**

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**A Sonadow Story:**

**Hero's Heart Corrupted**

Chapter One: Mysterious Drop-off

It was another bright, normal day on the planet of Mobius. Birds were tweeting, the sun was shining, and our blue hero of Mobius was slacking in his house with his friends. He had been given the day off from 'being the hero', since Dr. Eggman had been taken care of that day. Sonic and his friends were at his house, chilling as already stated.

Everyone had somehow managed to come. Tails, who already lives there; Knuckles, who had the convincing of Rouge to stop guarding his precious rock; Rouge, having free time from her missions from GUN; and even Shadow, who was dragged there also by Rouge. They were all sitting in the living room, watching the news for anything interesting. Unfortunately, there was nothing.

The Fastest Thing Alive himself was flicking through the channels, a bored expression on his face. The house was very comfortable, despite how messy it was. The floor was mostly made of beautiful light brown hardwood flooring, other than the living room, with light blue walls and snow white ceiling. There was a cobalt blue couch in the middle of the living room turned toward the corner where the black plasma flat screen TV stood. In front of the couch was a nice glass table for them to set their drinks, snacks, and other belongings on. Hung on the wall were pictures of mostly Sonic and Tails together, sometimes their other friends, and a shelf near the front door full of Sonic's awards and trophies for his heroism. The front door stood out, being a snow white color along with the ceiling. The living room had a nice beige carpeting that was littered with dirty socks and other carelessly tossed things at some corners and spots along the walls. Next to the couch was a nice stand that held a blue sapphire lamp on top of it for late night reading (obviously having to be used by Tails mostly).

All five Mobians were crowded around the TV, the same bored expressions on their faces as Sonic. They did not even seem to change it when a disturbingly loud bolt of lightning was heard from outside. The only one who seemed to make a reaction to it was Shadow, turning to the window to see the light droplets of rain hitting on the glass in the beginning of a storm. The sun was no longer visible and the birds had stopped tweeting. He turned back to Sonic to see that the blue hedgehog was getting very annoyed. Tossing aside the remote after turning off the TV, the blue hero let out an irritated sigh.

"Ugh, there's nothing to do here! Even fighting Egghead again sounds more exciting!" He complained, the others nodding in agreement with his statement. Another bolt of lightning caught their attention that hit close to the house, all the Mobians turning toward the door with the same bored expressions. Shadow sat up from his seat on the floor, since the couch could only fit up to three to four people and that he did not want to sit on the couch anyway, and moved toward the door. The black hedgehog opened up the door and took a look outside. He grunted as he saw that the rain had grown way more harsh than when he looked outside from the window last time. Moving back inside, he sat back at his spot on the floor.

"How is it, Shads?" Sonic questions on the couch, looking down at the elder hedgehog.

"Not something I like, that's for sure. The rain is really difficult out there, and I didn't bring a Chaos Emerald with me here. It looks like it's going to get even worse, so I don't think any of us will be leaving here tonight," Shadow calmly replied, although he was really disliking the fact that he will have to stay at Faker's house.

"Sometimes, I don't even think you can live without your precious little Chaos Emerald," Sonic chuckled and stood up from the couch. Shadow gave the cocky hedgehog a solid, dark glare as his rival strode over to the kitchen, smirking as he disappeared behind the door frame.

The kitchen seemed to be the only tidy room in the whole house. The flooring was lined with glossy white and beige checkered tile. The walls were painted a creamy color, having some pictures of Tails and the blue hedgehog hanging on them. Next to the door frame was the fridge, which was white, and a counter next to it to the left and connecting to the wall. A stove was a little ways away from the counter, leaving room for the trash can. The dishwasher was to the left of the stove that was an off-white coloring, the stove being a shiny light gray. Above everything but the fridge were cabinets, holding plates, glass cups, pots and pans, baking accessories, etc. In the middle of it all was a nice spruce brown colored circular kitchen table with four chairs circling around it. The chairs were very comfortable, having padding to support the back and the bottom of the person who sat on the chair. The chairs were also made of black fabric, adding to the comfort. Next to the dishwasher was the back door, leading to the porch.

The Blue Blur opened up the fridge in search for something edible. A loud _bang_ was heard from behind him, causing the blue hero to instantly look up from the fridge and whip his head around in the direction of the noise. He saw nothing out of the usual. Curious, he moved to the back door and opened it, looking outside. At the foot of the door held a small package made of brown paper, like what they use for brown paper bags. The patio was a large expanse of hard-wooded flooring and had a thick metal roof to block out the rain, so the package wasn't wet except for a few drops on the way there from where it came from. There was nothing on the package to indicate where the package had come from. The blue hedgehog picked up the mysterious object and took another look around. Nobody. Sonic shrugged and stepped back inside his house, not noticing a dark shadow looming out from the corner of the house from the outside.

Sonic walked a little faster back to the living room with his friends and jumped back on the couch in the middle of Tails and Rouge with the brown package still in his hands.

"Hey Sonic, what's that?" the yellow kitsune tilted his head to the side and pointed at the package questioningly. That being said, everyone else in the room turned their head to look at the blue hedgehog, who was expecting that, but decided to play dumb.

"What's what?" he said sarcastically and smirked.

Narrowed eyes.

Sweat drop.

"Okay, okay, chill out, guys! I was in the kitchen trying to get something to eat until I heard a very loud noise that came from outside. I went over to the back door and looked outside. This was the only thing out of the ordinary out there," Sonic points at the package as his smirk disappears off his muzzle. "There was nothing else out there." Everyone just stood there with blank faces and he sweat-dropped again.

"Sonic, please tell me this is just one of your pranks you pull on us frequently," Tails spoke up and everyone seemed to agree with his statement with a nod.

"Guys, I am serious! And also, your prank isn't due until later." The blue hedgehog pouted and crossed his arms over his chest like Shadow does. Speaking of Shadow, he was now right behind him leaning on the back of the couch with his forearms.

"Honestly Faker, you should pull these less often," The black and red streaked hedgehog scoffed with a disinterested look across his stoic face. The blue hedgehog soon continued to rant about him not pranking them and saying he was being honest.

Truly, Shadow believed him. Although the Faker was a pretty big joker and someone you could not easily take seriously, you could tell he was on his serious side now. The black hedgehog only pushed him so he could watch The Blue Blur embarrass himself even more. Shadow just liked to see the blue hedgehog like this. It was pretty amusing in all honesty. Seeing his rival thrash and get aggravated made Shadow almost want to burst out laughing like Sonic would do if one of his friends did something embarrassing. But being Shadow, all he did was smirk and rarely let out a small, deep chuckle. The Ultimate Lifeform soon snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of stomping sneakers hit the hardwood floor, echoing into the kitchen again.

Shadow turned in the direction of the kitchen door frame to see a glimpse of blue spines disappear behind it. The black hedgehog soon followed and saw the blue spines go outside from the back door. He followed again and stepped outside on the patio, Sonic sitting in a nicely carved wooden rocking chair. Noticing another copy of the chair next to Sonic's left, he sat in the chair next to him.

The blue hedgehog did not even bother to look at his rival as he stared at the back lawn, deep in his thoughts. He still held the brown paper package in his arms protectively like it was a precious artifact. The steady raindrops from the storm pounded on the metal roof above them, giving a calmer nature in this kind of situation. Shadow soon began to get into his own thoughts as well as he listened to the rain and rocked quietly in his chair.

Shadow could not help it, but when he looked at Sonic now, he somehow looked at the moment less… annoying, peaceful you could say. The blue hedgehog looked less alert with his usually pricked up blue ears softened, free from tension, and his muscles relaxed. It was like his rival was not the big hero and did not need to watch out for anything. The Ultimate Lifeform soon realized how much stress Sonic must go through. Sonic always had to have his guard up in order to be ready for an unexpected attack. It seems like just letting his guard slip for only a millisecond could cause great devastation in most cases. He had to watch over his friends to make sure nothing happened to them, whether it be something small or tragic. His carefree personality was nonexistent in these thoughts. No matter how hard he tried to hide it, the blue hedgehog had more responsibility than any job could ever give you. Shadow actually began to give a little respect to his rival, although he would never admit that aloud.

The black hedgehog snapped out of his thoughts again when he heard his rival's voice.

"Hey Shads, you alright?" A gloved hand belonging to the blue speedster waved in front of Shadow's face and he blinked, realizing he had been actually staring at Sonic the entire time. _Dammit Shadow, _the black hedgehog cursed before focusing on The Fastest Thing Alive again.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Shadow replied dryly and turned his head away from his blue doppelganger to watch the raindrops hit the grass below them. Sonic shrugged and looked in the direction Shadow was looking at, letting out a deep sigh that seemed to release even more tension as his shoulders sagged. Another silence, but this time, it was pretty awkward. Both tried to come up with something to talk about.

"So, do you believe me or you still don't?" Sonic turned to Shadow and Shadow did the same.

The blue hedgehog held up the brown paper package in front of him and Shadow took it from him. They both sat absolutely still, staring at the package like something was going to pop out of it. Shadow decided not to answer that question because it may give his rival the idea that the black hedgehog was becoming soft. What if he was? And if he was, why? He put that thought in the back of his mind and moved his gloved hand to the side of the package, where it was the easiest place to open it. Sonic's emerald eyes followed Shadow's gloved hand, waiting for it to reveal what was inside the mysterious package.

~End of Chapter 1~

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**So how was it? Good, bad, the best story ever? XD (I wish -.-) But thanks for giving me a chance in reading my first story and there will be more chapters along the way! :3 And please review so I know how good of a job I am doing!**


	2. Chapter 2: Viral Plague

**A Sonadow Story:**

**Hero's Heart Corrupted**

Chapter 2: Viral Plague

Shadow's gloved hand stopped when it reached the side of the package and he quickly turned to Sonic, who looked back.

"Are you sure you don't know where this package came from or who delivered it?" he said to his blue counterpart in a light whisper. Sonic looked back down at the package and stared at it for a few moments before only nodding, losing his voice from the suspense. Shadow did not know why they were acting like this, it was only a stupid package to him. It just seemed to give off an uneasy air. The black hedgehog shook the thought off and took a deep breath.

A tearing sound of paper was heard. Sonic watched intently as his black doppelganger tore through the paper of the package, which seemed to take several minutes to them when it was actually ten seconds in reality. The blue hedgehog's gloved hands started to shiver as he waited to see what it was. Shadow by then had finally finished tearing the paper and reached a hesitant gloved hand into the mysterious package. He barely felt the small Styrofoam pellets due to the glove on his hand as he searched the box. He felt something solid hit against his hand and quickly grabbed the object, pulling it out as he did. What he revealed was… (Insert drumroll here)

A disk.

A clear disk.

A clear _stupid_ disk.

A _disk._

A _DISK_.

The two supersonic hedgehogs sat in absolute silence as they stared at the disk with blank faces. Nothing happened. No robot had changed from this disk form to its real self. No mythical demon came from the disk to try and attack them. Nothing.

"What the _hell_? You mean we have been fretting over a stupid _disk_?" Shadow growled as he gripped the disk a little tighter. His blue counterpart noticed this and quickly put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Easy, Shads. Maybe this disk will have some use, like tell us we won the lottery or something," His rival joked and the black hedgehog quickly whipped his head around to face him. His reassuring hand on the latter hedgehog's shoulder was denied when it was shrugged off. The joke did not help at all.

Shadow quickly jumped up from his wooden rocking chair and drew his arm back that held onto the disk, about to throw it.

"No!" Sonic yelled and quickly grabbed his arm to keep him from tossing it halfway across Mobius. "Shadow, no! This disk could be really important! Why would someone deliver it here if it meant nothing?"

"People are foolish! They could just be playing with us and our minds! Didn't you notice how we were acting back there before opening the package!?" The Ultimate Lifeform growled deeply, still struggling to get out of his rival's grip. Sonic ignoring the question and having no choice, he quickly used his free arm to snatch the disk away from his black doppelganger before he got out of his grip and dashed into the house, a furious black hedgehog following.

Both hedgehogs ran into the living room again with Tails, Rouge, and Knuckles sitting on the couch, watching the two play a game of "Catch The Hedgehog". Knuckles quickly interfered and extended his arm to stop Shadow in his tracks with Sonic stopping a foot away.

"What the hell is wrong with you two? We can't leave you both alone without resulting in a childish fight," The red echidna said in an irritated tone. Shadow didn't seem to hear because of his mind thinking many ways to hurt Sonic as he death-glared said hedgehog.

"It's not my fault that Mr. Grumpy over there wants to throw a harmless disk that could contain valuable information to Pluto!" The blue hedgehog yelled and glared back at Shadow, but not as dark as Shadow's glare. Knuckles turned toward Sonic with a confused expression.

"Wait, what disk?" The red echidna questioned and lowered his arm again when the elder hedgehog had calmed down. The Fastest Thing Alive held out the clear disk for everyone to see, which immediately caught Tails' interest. But then something surprised the blue hero. The other side of the disk facing him was not clear, but actually had _writing_ on it, written with black marker.

"Sonic…'x'?" he said not very fluently aloud and everyone faced him instead of the disk.

"What, Sonic?" Tails asked him and said hedgehog repeated what he had said, but more fluently this time. Everyone gave him questioning looks, wondering why he was saying that. The yellow kitsune got up from the couch and moved to his big brother, taking the disk to see what he was reading. His eyes lit with amusement when he read the writing.

"Oh! You mean .exe!" he chuckled as he waved his namesakes.

"What does that mean?" everyone except Shadow and Tails asked. Instead of Tails answering, it was Shadow.

"It is an executable binary file. Some operating systems, notably MS-DOS, VMS, and TWENEX, use the extension '.exe' to mark such files," The Ultimate Lifeform stated with his arms crossed over his chest like knowing that vocabulary was child's play. (Don't worry, you don't have to know what that means! XD) Everyone, even Tails, was surprised to hear that from the bionic hedgehog. He only shrugged.

"Tails, English please," The Blur Blue said after snapping out of his shock.

"He basically means it's a downloadable file, which I don't recommend. These are unprotected, meaning my computer could easily get a virus or hacked into," The twin-tailed fox rephrased and everyone nodded with understanding.

"So what do we do with it if it has no use?" Sonic questioned and Shadow took this chance to swipe the disk from the kitsune. ("IT'S NO USE!" ~Silver the Hedgehog 2006)

"I say that we throw this useless piece of crap out the window and never speak of it again."

"Wait, Shadow! Maybe it can be useful! I only said that it could hold some malware, not that it didn't hold anything helpful. I can look into it and see if it is safe to download," Tails quickly said before any harsh decisions were made.

The Ultimate Lifeform gave the twin-tailed fox a solid, dark glare before handing the disk back to him.

He softly grumbled, "Don't come to me when something horrid happens involving it," before quickly walking to and leaning against a wall. The crew of Mobians stood in an awkward silence before Sonic spoke up.

"How about we all just rest up and we'll figure this all out tomorrow?"

Everyone nodded in agreement as they noticed moonlight seeping through the windows and stars dotting the night sky. All of them soon started to make up sleeping arrangements.

"Alright, of course, I sleep in my room, and so does Tails in his own room." Sonic pointed at himself then at his little brother when Tails was mentioned. "I have one guest room with two separate single beds in there, and of course there is the couch. You guys can settle this amongst yourselves. Good luck with that and goodnight to all!"

The blue hero winked before whipping around and walking down the hall with a little bounce to each step. Shadow could not help but glare at his rival, his all-too-happy attitude sickening to the black hedgehog.

But then Shadow remembered what had happened outside on the patio. Sonic's attitude could just all be an act, no matter how much the blue hedgehog denied it. The bionic hedgehog softened his glare to a simple watching stare as his rival disappeared into his room, which was the last door on the left of the narrow hallway. He sighed and turned to the remaining Mobians in the living room, which were Rouge and Knuckles. Tails had left to go to his room, which was the second farthest door to the left. There was only one door to the right in between the two doors to the left, Shadow guessing it was the guest room. Finally there was a door all the way at the end of the hall in the middle. The black hedgehog suggested it was the bathroom.

"You two can take the guest room, I would rather sleep on the couch anyway," he said and moved to the cobalt blue couch. Rouge and Knuckles did not argue, not wanting to fight with the defiant antihero.

Although the red echidna was having an argument in his mind about sleeping with Bat Girl in the same room, he did not say anything. His temper was rough, but Shadow was a different story when messed with. The albino bat and echidna turned and walked down the hallway to the guest bedroom without a word. Shadow grunted and slowly sat himself on the couch. It was strangely comfy, and he did not complain. The elder hedgehog lied down on the comfortable couch and sighed again after such a long day.

Shadow softened his razor-sharp quills so he did not stab them into the couch and gently closed his eyes, listening to the pitter-patter of the rain outside hitting against the window. He soon drifted off to sleep, not a sound in the household.

~End of Chapter 2~

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**IT'S NO USE! XD**

**Sorry, had to do it. o.o Anyways, I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! :D**


	3. Chapter 3: Technical Assault

**A Sonadow Story:**

**Hero's Heart Corrupted**

Chapter 3: Technical Assault

Sonic could not sleep. No matter how hard he tried, he could not fall into the deep slumber he desired. The blue hedgehog tossed and turned in his bed. Groaning, he grabbed a pillow next to him and slammed it down on his face. He could not get the disk out of his mind. It was just glued deep in his brain, not showing any sign of coming out. The only way the curious blue hero will sleep is if he finds out what is held in the mysterious object. Removing the pillow from his face, The Fastest Thing Alive stood up off of his bed and looked around for the disk.

Sonic's room was also very tidy unlike the rest of the house except for the kitchen. When you walked in, there was a huge double bed in the middle of the room, just as blue as the hero. Two oak wood bedside tables were on each side of the bed that held identical lamps, one on each. A neatly carved birch colored dresser was close to the right bedside table on the right side of the room, barely anything on its surface. An oak wood office desk was in the middle of the left side of the room with a clean surface and a black rolling office chair neatly pushed in. The blue hero's room was also a master suite, meaning it had a connected bathroom. The bathroom was connected next to the birch dresser, having two double glass doors. Inside had a clean shower, counter with sinks, bathtub (which is actually rarely used because of Sonic being hydrophobic), toilet, and closet to hold towels in.

Sonic soon remembered that Shadow had given the disk to Tails to inspect and grinned. Stepping out of his room, he moved down the hallway to his little brother's room and silently creaked open the door, seeing the kitsune asleep in his bed. The blue hedgehog smirked when he saw that the disk was gently lied down on the bedside table on the left side of Tails' bed. He tiptoed over to the bedside table and softly picked up the disk to not wake up the twin-tailed fox. Dashing out of the room and stopping to softly shut the door, Sonic moved down the hallway back into the living room, satisfied that he was able to sneak away with the mysterious disk.

The blue hedgehog froze in mid-step when he realized that someone had to sleep on the couch. Alert again, he peered over the back of the couch and his emerald green eyes widened when he saw that Shadow had chosen to sleep on the couch. He was not too surprised, knowing that the black hedgehog probably would not like roommates. Sonic successfully was able to get out of the living room silently without waking up his grumpy rival. The blue speedster moved to a place that should definitely have a computer: Tails' basement workshop.

Sonic stepped down the horribly long set of stairs down into the workshop, still grinning from retrieving the disk without making any of his friends wake up. Finally stepping into the room, the blue hedgehog spotted the big supercomputer Tails always used (and had asked for more than enough times for Christmas) and silently walked to it. He sat down in the little swivel chair and made the brilliant machine come to life.

"Let's see what this baby holds." Sonic's grin widened and inserted the disk into the monitor. Nothing happened at first, until a small window popped up, asking if he wanted to download what was in the disk into the supercomputer. Seeing this, Sonic started to get a little doubt into downloading the data in the disk. He should wait until Tails checks it, just to be on the safe side. He reached for the open/close button on the monitor and almost pushed the button, until he looked up at the screen again. The disk was downloading itself.

Sonic could only stare at the screen in bewilderment as the download bar reached toward its destination on the other end of the bar. It soon signaled that the download was complete. Nothing else happened for a few moments. Another window popped up, asking if he wanted to play the media stored in the disk. Not without hesitation, the blue hedgehog clicked "OK", and it launched.

The intro to the very first "Sonic the Hedgehog" game played, which made Sonic's spirits rise.

"Hey, it's my very first game! I should have known it was this!" The Blue Blur laughed and watched as the intro with his favorite 8-bit intro song played. The music stopped after it had ended. The intro screen disappeared without him touching anything, looking like another image had flashed before the intro screen disappeared. This sparked the blue hedgehog's curiosity, wondering why it had gone without him.

Something even more weird happened when the character selection screen from what looked like "_Sonic the Hedgehog 3_" appeared on the monitor. It looked uninviting and eerie-feeling, having a scarlet-red background. The playable characters were Tails, Knuckles and… Eggman? What was he doing in his game as a playable character? Sonic seemed to bore holes into the screen as he glared at the option to play as his worst enemy. He was not even a playable character for Chaos' sake! This only enraged the speedy hedgehog even more.

Sonic soon proceeded with the game by clicking on Tails, the only unlocked character at the moment. He almost leaped out of his chair when he heard the computer emit a horridly played 8-bit (and what sounded like evil) laugh. The sound was almost as horrible as hearing Amy's squeal right as she was about to glop him. The blue hedgehog shivered at the thought and continued with the game.

A text appeared on the screen as soon as Sonic selected Tails.

**Hill:**

**Act 1**

He appeared, playing as Tails, in what seemed like Green Hill Zone. It was empty; no obstacles, robots, hills, or anything in his path. His head tilted to the side like a confused puppy, he moved Tails down Green Hill Zone in search of anything. Nothing seemed to appear for a while until he came up against a small motionless lump. A bird with faded blue colored feathers lied on the ground, a pool of blood surrounding the poor creature.

The bird was dead.

Sonic stared at the screen in horror in seeing a dead animal in his game. Knowing there was nothing he could do, he proceeded down Green Hill Zone. More piles of dead woodland animals filled the area with fallen flowers and plants appearing too. The blue hedgehog gawked in disgust at what seemed like his game.

Then there came him. He stood in the middle of the zone with his eyes closed, like he was thinking of something or lost in thought. The Tails on the screen started to move closer to the Sonic on the screen, very slowly walking to him. With each step the kitsune took, a static sound came from the computer, and it only got louder with each step. The real Sonic couldn't help but feel a great sense of dread. Something seemed off with him on the screen.

He wouldn't just stand there near a zone of dead animals. He would look for the cause of this mass murder and deal with it, not _stand there_. The only time he was able to sit around was when Eggman wasn't invading and his friends actually gave him time to rest. And he would do it on the roof of his house, in his room, or sit down in the patio, rarely ever stand in the middle of Green Hill Zone. He would sometimes go play with the animals there and lean up against a tree to admire the scenery, but rarely.

Sonic focused back on what was happening on the screen and by the time he did, Tails was right next to the Sonic on the screen. The static was really loud, and Sonic had to adjust the volume so it didn't wake the others up. The yellow kitsune started to point at pixel Sonic like he was telling him something, but he stopped when the blue hedgehog on the screen opened his eyes. They were pitch black with bright red piercing pupils that gave Sonic the chills up his spine and quills to bristle. When did he become that_ thing_!? The screen went black and some text appeared.

"**Hello. Do you want to play with me?"**

Another piece of text.

**Hide and Seek**

The scene reappeared with Tails left alone in the middle of Green Hill Zone again, but this time, something was different. Green Hill Zone was _burning_. Flames surrounded the zone, burning the grass and flowers that made contact. Tails seemed to stare at him through the screen, just as completely confused as Sonic was. The look the Tails on the screen gave him made the blue hedgehog pity him. He would like to be nowhere in that position either.

Sonic began to make Tails move across the fiery terrain, still searching for something he didn't know. Sonic's spirits dropped even more when the demonic pixel Sonic flashed on the screen. The demonic creature reappeared a few feet behind his little brother on the screen, chasing him. Knowing himself, he could catch Tails in no problem, but now he just wanted to slow down for him. The demonic Sonic wasn't running, he was _gliding_. The demonic pixel Sonic was gliding even closer to the Tails on the screen with the drowning theme music playing through the speakers on the computer. It only raised Sonic's dread. The blue hedgehog began to count down in his head.

5...

Only four feet from Tails...

4...

Now only three feet…

3...

Two small feet away from Tails…

2…

One foot remaining…

1…

The demonic Sonic was right behind Tails.

The demonic pixel Sonic seemed to phase into the twin-tailed fox and he was gone. Tails then burst into tears in the middle of the zone and Sonic could feel his sorrow make his heart feel heavy.

The blue speedster hoped to never see Tails in the real world like this, especially with him as the cause. He knew that Tails was strong, but nobody was invincible, not even himself. Sometimes he can't even control his emotions (ex. Dark Sonic). He one time got so depressed with faking his smile all the time that he locked himself in his room when Tails went out and just… cried. He couldn't remember when he had last cried, but he never wants anyone to see him cry. No one.

The Fastest Thing Alive continued to watch as the Tails on the screen just cried. Suddenly, the demonic pixel Sonic reappeared next to the twin-tailed fox. He reached out to his little pixel brother, and the screen went black with an ear-splitting scream. Luckily the volume had been turned down earlier, so it wasn't that loud. Yet the scream was still terrible to Sonic's sensitive ears, causing him to fold them down to block out the terrible sound. The menu screen popped up on the screen soon after again, but you couldn't choose Tails anymore. Above Tails' selection box was the static picture of another fox. He had a black pelt with bleeding eyes and white pattern on the tip of his tails, chest fur, and muzzle. His eyes were just like the demonic Sonic's, black where the white should be and scarlet red pupils. The real Sonic grimaced at the sight and turned his head away from the screen.

The blue hedgehog turned his head back to look at the other characters. Knuckles was now unlocked. He clicked on the pixel red echidna and waited for more horrors to come. He had gotten used to the pixelated evil laughter by now as he spawned after reading another pair of text that had appeared on the screen.

**You Can't Run**

Knuckles seemed to have spawned in a place that looked like Chemical Planet Zone, but yet looks aren't everything from what Sonic had learned _very_ recently. The blue speedster moved Knuckles across the metal floor through the zone. Nothing seemed to happen after a very long walk, until the screen went to pale red static.

"Oh, c'mon! This is just getting ridiculous!" the blue hedgehog yelled in a hushed tone to not wake up his friends upstairs. The screen lit back to Knuckles just standing there in the middle of Chemical Planet Zone. Static again. Back to Knuckles. Again with static. Knuckles. Static. Sonic was now wondering if it was the game or the computer doing this. He tapped the screen of the monitor with a gloved finger to try to find out.

The screen came back to Knuckles again, but this time it was different. Streaks of scarlet blood lined the metal floor at Knuckles' feet. Knuckles began to move by himself through the zone like nothing was happening around him. Sonic looked down at the keyboard then at his hands to see he wasn't controlling the pixel red echidna anymore. He wanted to yell at Knuckles on the screen and tell him to get out of there, but knowing it was only a game, he stayed silent. Knuckles abruptly stopped when a figure appeared in front of him. It was that demonic Sonic. The screen went to static again. The screen came back to see text.

"**f****O****unD YOU"**

The screen made the text disappear and back to the scene with Knuckles and demon Sonic. Knuckles was still alive! Sonic lit up at the sight and saw the demonic pixel Sonic in front of the red echidna on the screen. Now was his chance to beat the blue out of that demon doppelganger of him! He moved Knuckles up to the demon Sonic on the screen. Hoping for something else to happen, the demonic Sonic teleported behind the red echidna. He tried to go after it again, but to no avail when it only teleported behind Knuckles again.

"Scared, huh? Thought so!" Sonic smirked at the little blue image. The blue hedgehog began to think; why would the demon Sonic be avoiding him now after easily taking down Tails? There was only one answer.

Sonic tried to make the red echidna on the screen stop, but he was actually too late. Knuckles fell to the metallic floor, completely exhausted after trying to chase down the demonic pixel Sonic. The blue figure stood behind the tired guardian and reached for him, a black screen and terrified scream following. Sonic slammed his fists on the keyboard, not even caring how loud it was. He had let another one of his friends down, even if it was just a game! Just the thought of it made his heart fill up with guilt. He looked up to see another pair of text.

"**So many souls to play with, so little time. Would you agree?"**

The screen had went back to the character selection screen again after the text disappeared, Knuckles now not playable. Above the red echidna's selection box was basically Knuckles with his normal appearance, but he had the demonic Sonic's eyes. Sonic couldn't bear the sight and turned his head to look at the final playable and now unlocked character: Dr. Eggman.

Sonic selected his worst nemesis and blocked out the evil pixel laughter that played after. Text once again appeared on the screen.

**...**

He seemed to spawn in some kind of base of Egghead's. A row of stairs was in front of the evil doctor, giving Sonic the same feeling of dread as before. _Let's just go and get this horrible creation of a game over with,_ Sonic thought to himself and moved Eggman down the stairs, wanting to just go back to bed. He would do that, but he couldn't leave the computer on. That's it, he could just shut down the computer and not see the ending of this game! The blue hedgehog leaped up out of his seat and tried to find the big red X at the top right of the screen. There wasn't one.

Sonic snorted and continued to look around the screen but to no avail. Now frustrated, the blue speedster tried to find the power button on the desktop. He soon found it and pushed it with a triumphant smirk. But nothing happened. Great.

The smirk on his muzzle disappeared as he rapidly pushed the power button a few more times, then tried holding it, then had to hold _himself_ back from attacking the poor supercomputer with one of Tails' hammers. Nothing. Sonic started to grow anxious, but quickly calmed himself down.

_Calm down Sonic, freaking out won't solve anything, _the blue hedgehog said in his head and continued to search for a way to avoid any situation with the game. Can't close the page, computer won't shut down, running out of options. Sonic finally came to a conclusion to just unplug the computer.

The blue speedster crawled under the desk that held the computer and approached the outlet, giving the computer above him power. He reached out his gloved hand toward the plug slowly. The game was messing with his mind. It seemed like when his hand got closer to the plug, he heard static. The Blue Blur finally just lost all his senses and pulled the plug from the outlet. Sonic let out a sigh of relief when he saw the room go completely black again. He crawled from under the desk back into his office chair, staring at the now powerless computer.

The supersonic hedgehog could not help but to rub his sensitive ears. He could still hear the static from his mind. Or was he really hearing it? Turns out he actually was. The screen came back to life as some text appeared on the screen, freaking out the terrified hedgehog in front of it.

"**Ready for Round 2?"**

Sonic's eyes widened as he gawked at the supposed-to-be lifeless computer. The screen went black again for a few moments, until a figure appeared. It was a reflection of him, but it was different. Its eyes were leaking blood! Its eyes were even different. They were black with piercing red pupils…

It was that demonic Sonic from the game.

The static seemed to grow louder at the more Sonic stared appalled at the figure. A creepy and crooked smile that spilled blood appeared on the demonic hedgehog's face as he reached out at his heroic counterpart with a blood-stained gloved hand. Sonic let out a small squeal and grabbed under the desk, flipping the desk over and breaking everything on it. The blue hedgehog silently apologized to Tails in his thoughts for breaking his computer, but it was demonic. Totally something his little brother would believe. Sparks lit the room barely from the broken computer. Smoke from the sparks filled the air that made the blue hedgehog cough, but he didn't dare run out of the room with the probability of a fire. That's the _last_ thing he needed now.

Sonic had to stand still to let everything process in his mind that had passed. Harmless game becomes a demonic nightmare, demon almost kills him, sees two of his closest friends _murdered_ in the game, broken supercomputer, no sleep. What a night. Sonic found himself staring at the smoke coming from the computer and shook his head to get out of his thoughts. The whole room began to give off an unnerving air, making the frightened blue hedgehog more anxious than before.

What next happened made Sonic lose all of his sanity. From the smoke, he could make out two piercing, yet hazy red dots in the middle of the smoke. The blue hedgehog couldn't mumble another word before he was pushed against the wall by an unknown force, drawing his breath away when he saw the figure in front of him that restrained him from moving.

~End of Chapter 3~


	4. Chapter 4: Everlasting Anxieties

**I hope you all are enjoying the story so far! ^^ I really enjoy writing, and I hope you enjoy reading! XD Now, on with the story!**

* * *

**A Sonadow Story:**

**Hero's Heart Corrupted**

Chapter 4: Everlasting Anxieties

The sounds of crashing and banging sounded from underneath the house. Black eyelids opened as the unknown sounds continued, keeping the hedgehog from going back to sleep. Shadow sat up on the cobalt blue couch and took a quick glance around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. His ears were fully alert, pricked up as high as they could to pinpoint the source of the noises. Hearing that it was at a different ground level than where he was, he figured that Faker's house had a basement. The dark hedgehog stood up from the couch and looked around the house for some kind of staircase or a way down to the basement. After enough searching, he looked behind the fridge to discover a long set of stairs heading downward.

Shadow smirked in satisfaction and pushed the fridge out of its place. The sounds continued, becoming more louder as the ebony hedgehog made his way down the stairs. Many thoughts ran through Shadow's head that made the hedgehog's head hurt, yet he could not stop thinking.

_What exactly was going on to make such a racket? Why hadn't anyone else waken up yet from it?_ It was obvious that The Ultimate Lifeform had increased senses, so the noises probably sound louder than they would to a regular Mobian. After several minutes of descending, Shadow made it to the bottom of the stairs.

The dark hedgehog could not help but narrow his eyes at the sight. Although his eyes stung from the smoke coming from the broken computer, he could make out a struggling figure against the wall, twisting and writhing in pain. Sparks lit the air as the only source of light, which was good enough for Shadow. He was used to the darkness. Without wasting another moment, the antihero skated to the figure and picked it up bridal style. The figure was struggling to get out of his arms, but he did not dare let go. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that nobody else but the figure in his arms was in the smoke-filled room. Resting it on the nearby stairs, Shadow quickly located a fire extinguisher on the wall next to a filing cabinet and grabbed it from its hook.

Taking care of the small and minor fire from the computer, the black hedgehog carried the figure back upstairs to the living room after getting it and rested it on the couch. It had stopped struggling by then and didn't look like it was in that much pain anymore. The hedgehog next to him could almost pull off Shadow's appearance due to the smoke clinging on its pelt and spines. He could already tell that this hedgehog was his rival, Sonic. The smoke-covered hedgehog was still coughing harshly from inhaling the smoke, but soon recovered after a few moments. Sonic stared up at the ceiling, a mix of fear, pain, and shock in his emerald green eyes. What the blue hedgehog saw was completely different…

* * *

~Sonic's Point of View~

I was pushed against the wall, my vision dazed from the smoke. I couldn't make out any surroundings, but I knew what was keeping me from moving. The figure in front of me spoke in a raspy and unpleasant voice that made me want to rather listen to someone scratch on a chalkboard.

"Get ready for the next level." The figure let out an evil chuckle and forced me against the wall more, making me grunt in discomfort. I couldn't respond because I had a cough fit from the smoke. The creature took this as an advantage and before I knew it, it turned into some kind of black substance and entered my mouth.

The taste was horrid and painful. I felt as though a million swords and needles were piercing into my insides. I coughed up some blood and twisted as the pain went through my whole body. That's when I saw another figure approach me, but I couldn't tell who it was due to the agonizing pain blurring my vision and the stinging smoke in my eyes. The figure picked me up bridal style and carried me toward the staircase. Afraid that it was the demon creature again, I tried to struggle out of its grip, but it held on too tight for me. I didn't have my original strength since the pain inside of me was beyond unbearable. It set me down on the stairs and walked back into the workshop. I was thinking about running away as far as possible, but with every motion I did, a stabbing pain was felt in my insides. I decided to stay put.

The figure that took me out of the workshop came back and picked me up bridal style again, which I didn't like in all honesty. It made me feel like a girl, and it was a very uncomfortable feeling. Since the struggling wasn't helping at all and looked like it had no hope at all anyway, I stopped and focused on staying still so I didn't have to go through any more pain. We finally exited the staircase and entered into the living room again. The fridge was put back in place by the figure before entering the room.

I was placed on my couch and decided to cough out the rest of the smoke that was caught in my lungs at that time. I then just lied there staring at the ceiling, trying to process all that was happening. The pain had died down and I could move freely again, not having to avoid hurting myself from the motion. I turned my head to face the figure that "rescued" me (and using that term made Sonic feel awfully sick inside, since it was supposed to be the other way around to him). I blinked in surprise when it was actually Shadow that had saved me from either getting killed by that demon or breathing in too much smoke. Shadow seemed to notice my gaze and looked back at me. An awkward silence filled the room as we stared at each other.

* * *

~Normal Point of View~

When Shadow turned to face Sonic, he began to observe his rival to find out any clues about what happened without having to ask. His smoke-covered body didn't seem to have any bumps, bruises, or cuts at all, yet he still seemed to be in some sort of pain. His gloves were now a dark gray color and far beyond repair. The blue hedgehog's spines were awfully matted and his usually shining emerald eyes were now red from the stinging smoke. What concerned Shadow the most was actually Sonic's expression.

Fear stood out from the rest, for it showed greatly in the blue supersonic hedgehog's eyes. He looked as though he had seen his biggest nightmare become a reality. But in Sonic's mind, it actually did. The blue hedgehog was now curled in a fetal position and was shivering madly. Shadow was surprised to see his rival like this. The usually cocky, annoying, yet fearless blue hero of Mobius and his number one enemy before when he worked for Dr. Eggman was now curled in a ball like a little child who thinks they have monsters under their bed. The dark hedgehog knew he would have to ask the latter hedgehog about what happened sooner or later, but most definitely not now. He would just have to wait for Sonic to recover, both physically _and_ mentally.

Standing up from his seat on the couch next to the shivering, balled-up hedgehog, Shadow walked down the hallway to wake up the others. He knew he couldn't do this alone. He didn't know how to comfort people in these kinds of situations, since he hasn't been in one of these situations at all. It makes it particularly harder for him because the victim in this situation is The Fastest Thing Alive himself. What a night.

After everyone was woken up from their slumber by Shadow, they all met up at the kitchen table. They all lazily and sleepily got some hot coffee to wake themselves up. Everyone circled around the kitchen table in their seats, Sonic not being with them. This raised everyone's curiosity as their gazes were locked on Shadow, who decided to speak at that moment. The first sentence seemed to get caught in his throat, but he still managed to continue.

"I-I need everyone's help. Something came up a little earlier tonight, I don't know what, but it has badly shaken up Sonic. I need-" The black hedgehog was cut off when an albino bat interrupted.

"Hold on a second. You're telling me that Sonic is actually shaken up over something?" Rogue spoke up, giving her GUN partner a look of disbelief.

Shadow boldly nodded, but nobody seemed to be convinced.

"Blue has gone through water monsters, giant metal robots, and dark demons and came out just as courageous as before. What could possibly shake him up this bad?" Rouge pointed out bluntly.

"Like I said before, I don't know what happened. I'm afraid that asking him now will get him in a worse state than the one that he's in now," Shadow responded, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Speaking of The Blue Blur himself, where is he?" Knuckles questioned and all turned to Shadow again. A look of uncertainty crossed said hedgehog's face, but quickly masked it with his usual look. Luckily for him, no one noticed.

The black hedgehog knew that he would ruin his rival's pride, but since when did he ever care about Sonic? The stupid hedgehog would be dead now for his annoying antics he does to Shadow to annoy him. The only reason why he stops himself from killing the latter hedgehog is because he doesn't want to start a murder case for the blue hero. Hell, why was he even helping him _now_? Getting out of his thoughts and dismissing that last question, he realized he hadn't answered.

Without a word, The Ultimate Lifeform stood up abruptly from his seat around the kitchen table and motioned for everyone to follow him. Receiving a little hesitation, the group followed the black hedgehog out of the kitchen and into the living room, approaching the cobalt blue couch where Shadow had seen Sonic last. He raised his hand for them to halt, and they obeyed by stopping. So many people around the unstable hedgehog may frighten him. Shadow looked over the back of the couch and felt himself tense when he saw that the blue hedgehog wasn't there.

Surprisingly, Sonic was still there. Shadow realized he was actually looking right at him when he spotted a little bit of peach and dark gray coloring from the smoke on the couch. He mentally slapped himself at that. Sonic's cobalt blue fur and spines blended in so well with the couch that someone could mistakenly sit on him (which would totally make Shadow ROFL). At least The Blue Blur had stopped shivering now.

Moving around the couch, Shadow took the open spot next to the frightened hedgehog, noticing Sonic's muscles tense and his ball get tighter. Shadow placed a gloved hand on his rival's peach shoulder, hoping it would relax him. Unfortunately, it only made Sonic flinch, curl up even tighter, and start shivering again. Restating, Shadow wasn't good at this kind of stuff. The black hedgehog quickly looked up at the group, having a look on his face showing that he needed assistance. Tails stepped forward and walked to Shadow's side, his eyes widening and face changing to shock and concern once the twin-tailed fox caught sight of his big brother.

"Sonic!" The yellow kitsune shouted as he flew to said hedgehog's side. Sonic instantly stopped his shivering when Tails called his name. The remaining two of the group, Knuckles and Rogue, got curious at Tails' actions and Shadow noticed. Motioning them over, they also saw the blue hero's curled-up form. Their wide eyes, gaped mouths, and other hints showed that they were just as surprised as Tails is.

"Tails..?" A muffled voice sounded from Sonic, causing everyone including Shadow to become more surprised.

"Yea Sonic, it's me, Tails," The twin-tailed fox responded and was immediately caught in a tight bear hug by the blue hedgehog. Okay, now everyone's brains were about to explode at this moment.

"Sonic, what are you-?" Tails was interrupted by said hedgehog.

"Tails, buddy! You're okay!" Sonic hugged even tighter and Shadow thought Tails looked like he was about to pass out from loss of air. Sonic noticed this and loosened his grip. After some heavy breathing, Tails got some air to utter more words out.

"Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?" Tails chuckled and gave the hedgehog an amused glance. The glance disappeared when Sonic froze, stopped hugging the twin-tailed fox, and crawled back on the couch in his fetal position.

Shadow sat in silence to process everything that just happened. Sonic has just completely... _changed_. Was it the smoke getting into his head? Shadow had to find out what happened, and now.

"Can you guys excuse us for a moment? I need to talk to Sonic. Alone." The black hedgehog whispered, not wanting the unstable blue hedgehog to overhear.

Tails, Knuckles, and Rogue nodded before disappearing down the hallway into their rooms. Sighing, Shadow turned back to the shivering, balled-up hedgehog next to him. Shit was about to get serious.

Or was it..?

~End of Chapter 4~


	5. Chapter 5: Uncovered Trageties

**A Sonadow Story:**

**Hero's Heart Corrupted**

Chapter 5: Uncovered Tragedies

Shadow continued to stare down at the ball of blue spines curled up next to him, unsure of how to begin. He could easily manipulate any other person to tell him information, but Mobius' blue supersonic hedgehog hero is an entirely different story. The only ways he could get Sonic to talk were to hurt him even more, and it looks like he has been through enough. The black hedgehog let out a small sigh before repeating his last approach; the hand on the shoulder. He got the same results as last time with Sonic shivering and curling into a tighter ball. Shadow decided to talk to him this time.

"Faker, it's okay. It's just me, Shadow."

The shivering hedgehog below him ceased the shivering and relaxed again. "Shadow..?"

Said hedgehog got himself prepared and closed his eyes for a reenactment of what happened to Tails. When nothing happened, Shadow opened his eyes to see his rival sitting up in front of him, no longer curled into a ball. The blue hedgehog's eyes were clouded with sorrow, but he still wore a small, sad smile.

"Thanks, Shads, for helping me escape the basement workshop…" Sonic turns his head to face the black screen of the turned off TV. Although it was quiet, Shadow's sensitive ears had picked up every word.

The Ultimate Lifeform watch the blue hero with wide eyes, completely not ready for that. Sonic just genuinely thanked him. Yup, he has really changed.

"I don't understand. What exactly happened back there?" Shadow _finally_ asked, causing the latter hedgehog's muscles to tense and small sad smile to disappear off his peach muzzle. He noticed this and realized he had asked too soon. There was no answer from the blue hero at first as his eyes grew more clouded and hugged his legs up to his chest.

"I just f-feel bad for breaking Tails' computer, that's all…" Sonic mumbles, continuing to stare at the powerless TV.

Shadow could tell that wasn't the full truth, yet part of it. At least he got something.

"Oh, so it was you who broke the computer?" Realizing he sounded stupid, but it was all for a good reason.

"Of course I did! Computer can't break themselves, ya know." Sonic sarcastically responded and turned to face him again with a small smirk, Shadow satisfied that he got the answer he expected. Maybe he hasn't _completely_ changed.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep for all that has happened, Shadow left Sonic in the living room and went into the kitchen to make himself some more coffee. He decided not to make Sonic any, because he knew that the blue hero would need to rest up tonight. Coming back with a steaming mug of coffee that had neatly cursive words written on the mug "World's Best Hero", the black hedgehog walked back into the living room to see his rival staring at the powerless TV again like it was about to attack him, his small smirk gone. He sighed and stepped up to the blue hedgehog, the latter hedgehog not even glancing at him. Black eyelids lowering, Shadow swiftly picked Sonic up bridal style and started to carry him down the hallway to the blue hero's room. Sonic thrashed and yelled threats in his arms that held him gently, but firmly enough to keep him in The Ultimate Lifeform's grip. Smirking the whole way, Shadow carried his frustrated rival down the hallway, glad that he has recovered a little.

* * *

~Tails' Point of View~

Toss. Turn. Flip. Groan. Repeat.

I haven't been able to sleep ever since Shadow sent us back to our rooms. Just the sight of Sonic's form made me want to cringe. He has never been like this. What could possibly terrorize him so much? And what about Shadow? Why did he want us to leave? Is he hurting Sonic? Why did he help Sonic in the first place? _Not that I want him to hurt Sonic..._ Ugh, all these thoughts are giving me a headache…

I sighed as I sat up in my bed and stared at the wall. My brain was like Grand Central Station now, my thoughts just crowding up there all at once. I honestly don't think I will ever be able to go back to sleep. I wonder if it is the same with the others. Will Sonic ever be the same? Or will he remain the frightened, shivering hedgehog he is now forever? Oh great, the thoughts again…

My head whipped around to face my bedroom door when I heard a strange, distant sound, like someone was yelling. I gripped my blanket that covered my legs below me, actually afraid that Shadow was hurting Sonic. The noise started to get closer as it sounded like it was going down the hallway. I soon was able to make out the words as it got closer:

"-so way past uncool, Shads!"

"How else are you going to get to your room if you're just going to stare at the TV like a frightened child?"

"You could have just _told _me that you wanted me to go to my room!"

"Please, you wouldn't even notice a bomb go off in your backyard, Faker."

"Would too!"

"Would not."

"Uh huh!"

"Nope."

"Just let me down!"

"Pfft, we're almost there. It would be a waste of time."

"UGH!"

The sound was too distant and blocked off by the door to listen to now. I couldn't help but laugh a little after hearing that argument. That sounded more like Sonic. Relaxing and loosening my grip on the covers, I lied back down in my bed. I had to move my namestakes to make sure I didn't lie on them overnight and wake up with them numb in the morning. With a small yawn, I gently closed my light blue eyes and drifted into a comfortable, needed sleep.

* * *

~Normal Point of View~

~The Next Morning~

Shadow woke up the next morning to find himself laying down on a spread-out blanket on the carpeted floor, vision blurry and head aching. He lifted himself up to a sitting position and looked around the room to try to remember where he was. It all started coming back to the black hedgehog as he recognized this to be Sonic's room. Last night began to repeat itself in his mind all over again…

* * *

~Shadow's Point of View~

~Flashback~

_I finally threw Sonic on his bed after a long, horrific walk down the hallway with his struggling and whining. He finally calmed down when he landed on his bed, but gave me a death glare that was nowhere near as powerful as mine. Pointing an accusing finger at me, he complained some more._

_"Never, ever, __**ever**__ do that again." My blue counterpart threatened me, which made me chuckle on the inside._

_"I do what I want, hedgehog." I smirked and crossed my arms over my chest in triumph. Sonic being upset was just plain amusing. The blue hero ended our argument with a grunt and began to get himself settled in his bed. Taking a sip of warm coffee out of my mug, I observed the room as he did that. I had to admit, he did have a very nice room. When he was comfortable, I decided that it was time to take my leave and let him sleep._

_"Well, I'm going to go back to the living room and watch TV or something." I spoke and turned to Sonic to see him staring at the plasma flat screen TV again in his room with a fearful look on his face._

_"Hello? Mobius to Sonic. Did you even hear me?" I spoke louder and walked up next to him. No response. No movement. He just proceeded in staring at the TV. Getting irritated with this behavior, I chose to not be so nice this time. Well, more like back to my angry, irritable, infuria-... you get the point._

_"Yes, I know that you're upset that I carried you here, but that doesn't me-" I stopped mid-sentence. Sonic had lashed out his arm and grabbed my arm, making me become silent. He slowly and creepily turned his head from the TV to me, his expression emotionless unlike the fearful one he had been wearing just a second before._

_"Hey Shads, uh, do you mind sleeping in here tonight?" he asked me with a voice so dull, it seemed like he never had any emotions at all. I didn't respond at first due to the confusion of him asking this kind of question. We were rivals, after all. And second, I was actually paralyzed with…fear. Never have I seen Sonic look so intimidating with the simplest of actions. I nodded my head at the question. _

_"Yes, I actually do mind." I answered, trying not to stutter._

_Sonic just stared deeply into my eyes with no emotion whatsoever. It was like he was staring into my soul. We stood there staring at each other for several minutes without a single movement. Suddenly, he grinned._

_"I suggest that you should not mind. I'm only doing this to help you." The blue hero whispered, his grin growing creepier by the second._

_"What do you mean by 'help me'?" I began to get uneasy._

_"Come," was all he whispered._

_He shows me to his closet and pulls out two extra pillows and two extra blankets. He unfolds one of the blankets and spreads it out in the middle of the room, just at the foot of the bed. I watch him alertly as he throws the two pillows at the top edge of the blanket and lies the other folded blanket on the creation. With the same creepy grin on his face, he presents to me the makeshift bed._

_"Try it out." He dully commands, and I hesitantly comply, not even daring to disobey because of how strange Sonic is acting. __Now lying down in the makeshift bed, Sonic crouches down next to me, which I instantly scoot a few inches away from him._

_"Sweet dreams…" he softly says and taps my forehead with the tip of his gloved index finger. I suddenly began to feel very sleepy and drowsy, having a hard time keeping my eyelids up. Before I fell asleep, I could have sworn I saw his emerald green eyes turn a light shade of crimson…_

* * *

~Normal Point of View~

~End of Flashback~

Shadow rubs his aching head and stands up from of his makeshift bed. Glancing at Sonic's bed, he notices that the blue hero is gone. He exits the room and walks down the hallway to the living room. Everyone is still asleep. The confused black hedgehog wanders over to the window and smiles a bit surprisingly. It had stopped raining overnight. He could finally leave this place and go back to his peaceful home.

A knock sounds from the front door next to Shadow and he growls slightly before opening the door. There he was; Sonic stood at the door. He was clean from the smoke that had covered his spines before and was back to his cobalt blue color and his gloves were back to their pure white color than smokey gray.

"Finally! I've been waiting at the door for the past two hours!" The blue hedgehog exclaims, stepping inside. The Ultimate Lifeform watched his blue counterpart pass him and disappear into the kitchen.

"Where the hell have you been, Faker?" he followed behind him as Sonic poured himself some of the cold coffee from last night and turned to face him.

"I.. I honestly don't remember…" The Blue Blur scratches his head in confusion.

That answer did not lower any of Shadow's anger.

"So you're telling me that you strangely wandered into the night to do who-knows-what without your own house key and come back without remembering anything whatsoever?" The black hedgehog growls as he steps toward Sonic slowly, who instantly takes a step back at each step Shadow took. They continued this until Sonic was pressed against the wall with Shadow holding him down.

"You better tell me **what **you did, hedgehog, before I Chaos Blast you to where you don't even know anything but the definition of pain." The pissed off bionic hedgehog snarled and the blue hedgehog below him couldn't help but shrink under his blazing glare.

"I honestly don't remember anything about last night! You've got to believe me, Shadow!" Sonic said desperately to said hedgehog, gazing up at the fuming black hedgehog with innocent emerald green eyes. Shadow continued to glare at him with blazing crimson eyes before releasing him and stepping back a bit.

"Stupid hedgehog." He grumbles, only had pressured his rival to at least try to find out about his suspicious behavior from last night. The blue hedgehog let out a sigh of relief, straightening himself up again. Taking a sip of his cold coffee, Sonic gets an idea.

"I'll make some breakfast for the both of us. You go see if there is anything interesting on TV." The Blue Blur suggested and his black rival approved with a short nod. Both parted ways when Black exited to the living room while Blue remained. Some time passed and Sonic was making some pancakes on a small portable electric fryer. Shadow continued to flip through the channels until one caught his attention.

"Faker, come look at this." He called out and the blue hedgehog entered the living room a moment later, leaving the baking pancakes on their own for a little. The TV was currently set on the News with a News Reporter in the middle of the screen. She was a beautiful pure snow white fox with ice blue eyes and wore a sparkling elegant midnight purple dress with matching heels. Both hedgehogs were silent as she spoke:

"Good morning, everyone. This is Roxanne Washington here and I'm here live at the scene. Last night in a small neighborhood, a murder was committed. A mother and two children were brutally slaughtered that night. We estimate it happened around 3 AM. Neighbors say they heard cries and screams at the dead of night around this time. There will be more to this story later on. We suggest for everyone to be cautious and keep your doors locked until further notice. This is Roxanne signing out and stay safe, Mobius."

The TV was shut off by a serious-looking blue hedgehog. Without a word, both supersonic hedgehogs exchanged glances and immediately dashed out the front door at supersonic speed.

~End of Chapter 5~


	6. Chapter 6: Trip to the Murder

**Sorry that this took so long to update! Really busy with school, and stuff at home, and all that other stuff that you probably don't care about. XD So for it being late, I decided to write even more for ya'll! ^^ And I'm FINALLY getting to the good part! :D Hooray for fast plotting! X3 Hope you all enjoy this chapter and there will be more to come! :3**

* * *

**A Sonadow Story:**

**Hero's Heart Corrupted**

Chapter 6: Trip to the Murder

Both super sonic hedgehog sped down the land of Mystic Ruins. Sonic felt anxious about this. Of course there were always crimes and Dr. Eggman to deal with, but the blue hedgehog had been to very little murder sites. He always thought the prospect of killing was never the right thing or answer. He wouldn't even kill Eggman if he could. They continued to run, until Sonic suddenly stopped, causing Shadow to collide into him from behind. Both hedgehogs fell over, a very frustrated black hedgehog on top of blue.

"What the hell did you do that for!?" Shadow snarled as he looked down at Sonic, who had a very sheepish expression on his face.

"Well, umm... Hehheh, funny thing is... Erm, I kinda don't know where the scene is..." the blue hero stuttered and The Ultimate Lifeform couldn't hold back a facepalm.

"Dammit, Faker!" he growled and removed his gloved hand off his face. The pissed off look on his face turned to slight confusion when he saw Sonic purposely avoiding all eye contact with the black hedgehog with a small hint of pink on his cheeks. After a moment of silence, The Blue Blur finally spoke in soft voice.

"Uhh, can you get off me, Shads..?" he said to Shadow and said hedgehog realized he was still on top of his rival. His face flushing as well, the antihero swiftly crawled off his blue counterpart and helped him back up. Thankfully, his dark fur hid the blush he had gotten. Another awkward silence later, Sonic broke it in order to get off the subject.

"Uhh, how about we run back to the house and see if Tails has anything?" he suggested to the bionic hedgehog, his blush gone. Shadow nodded at the idea with his blush gone as well, but gained a better idea a second after.

"Actually, how about you stay here while I run back?" the black hedgehog spoke.

"I don't think tha-" Shadow cut the blue hero off.

"Great, glad you agree. I'll be back soon," he interrupted and pulled out an earpiece communicator from his upturned quills, tossing it to Sonic (who expertly caught it). Before his blue counterpart could argue, Shadow quickly took off in the direction of the house, his thoughts multiplying like wildfire. He took this opportunity to be alone and at peace so he could think through his thoughts. ('Where did he get that communicator from?' you ask? Well, let's just say it is one of the perks of being a GUN agent.)

What had happened back there? Had he actually completely forgotten that he had fallen on his rival? Or was he too...comfortable to notice? Shadow shook his head at that thought. There was **no way** The Ultimate Lifeform could like, not even as a friend, that pesky blue pest. But he couldn't help thinking that he didn't _mind_ it. The black hedgehog mentally slapped himself, mumbled softly that he was just being crazy, and continued to focus on running.

Little did he know that he was actually right at the house and collided with the front door with a loud _bang_. The black hedgehog fell to the ground dazed, but quickly lifted himself back up. His senses were now knocked out of balance from the sudden knock-down, his vision blurry and everything else fuzzy. Good thing he didn't bring Sonic along to see that. Locating the doorknob, Shadow stepped inside.

* * *

~With Sonic~

Sonic watched as the black hedgehog skated off without his response and disappeared behind a hill a second after. He grinned and shook his head at his rival's actions. _Guess__ he just wants to be alone for a while,_ the blue hero thought and continued to stare at where Shadow had disappeared just moments ago, grinning still for some unknown reason. He then thought back to when Shadow had fallen on him. What was that all about?

Sure, it was accidental and it looked very weird from his position, but why didn't Shadow get off of him at first? And when he asked him to get off, why didn't Shadow pound his face into the earth? Sonic was certain that he would have at least got curses and threats thrown at him for asking his black counterpart to do something. Shadow liked to do what he wanted and not be ordered around by others. But oddly the black hedgehog had listened and got off him, even helping him up afterwards.

Getting out of his thoughts, Sonic realized he was alone on a barren moor that had nothing but a few trees with nothing to do. He quickly brainstormed some ideas and his eyes lit up when he found something to do. Taking off down the moor, the blue hedgehog put his plan into action.

* * *

~With Shadow~

His metal shoes sounded loud as he stepped into the quiet house, everyone still asleep. Shadow blinked his eyes to try and fix some of his blurry vision, but it only made it worse. Running at Mach 3 and colliding into a door that seemed to have the most powerful hinges and wood wasn't the best idea, even if it wasn't intentional. Carefully moving through the house, the black hedgehog found his way into the kitchen. The most likely place Tails would keep his contraptions and gadgets would be his workshop, which was the basement. He could also try and find out why Sonic was so scared and abnormal before when he helped him escape the basement.

After moving the fridge and going down the horrifically long set of stairs, the antihero arrived at the bottom of the steps, the basement the same as it was before. The broken computer still was in parts on the floor and glass from the screen still was spread across the floor. His vision was cleared up by now, and Shadow slightly cringed when he saw the awfully dark look in the room.

_Focus Shadow, just focus on trying to find something that can track down the broadcast's signal, _the bionic hedgehog thought and began to search the room for anything that looked like it would help, He searched for what felt like hours, but it only took ten minutes until he found a signal tracker. Sonic and Tails usually used this when tracking down Eggman's transmissions he usually sends which gives out his plans. Not even giving a damn anymore and more than excited to get out of the house, Shadow quickly dashed out of the basement and out of the house, heading back to Sonic with the signal tracker.

What The Ultimate Lifeform failed to notice was the burning smell of overcooked pancakes when he had entered the kitchen before. He was long gone now, unaware of it.

* * *

~Normal Point of View~

Shadow was back on the moorland with tracker in hand, scowling. _Sonic probably ran off to go look for the site alone or just get into something stupid,_ the black hedgehog thought and his scowl grew deeper. He soon stopped when he arrived at the place where he had last seen the blue hedgehog. Unfortunately, his blue rival wasn't there. "I knew he-"

"Yo Shads!"

The antihero stopped and turned to the direction of the call. He saw Sonic up in a tree, laying down on a branch and looking down at him while eating an apple.

"There you are! I was beginning to think you lost your way back here, hehheh." The hedgehog grinned and leaped down from the tree next to Shadow. The latter hedgehog scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest, giving his rival a glare.

"So what have you gotten into while I was gone?" Shadow questioned with a hint of a growl in his tone.

"Really, Shads? You think I have gotten into mischief already?" Sonic mocked an offended expression and put his hands on his waist. His black counterpart narrowed his crimson eyes at the latter hedgehog, clearly not amused. Taking this as a cue to stop joking around, the blue hedgehog's expression changed to a grin.

"I'm glad you asked!" He raised his head high proudly with his hands still on his waist. Shadow sighed and rolled his eyes at his blue rival's actions. Taking a bite of his half-eaten apple, Sonic tossed another apple to Shadow and said, "Follow me," before sprinting a few yards away. The black hedgehog caught up to him at his side and looked further down the hill.

Yup, Shadow was right; Sonic did get into something stupid in his mind. At around a hundred apples or even more, the words "Sonic the Hedgehog" were written on the hill's ground below made out of apples. It was kind of impressive for such an impatient person to take some time and make this.

Yet Shadow frowned.

"What a waste of apples," he grumbled and took a bite of his apple, Sonic's grin nonexistent.

"Oh, it's not like I tried to do something cool with them or anything!" the blue hedgehog shouted at his black counterpart with a glare. The bionic hedgehog scoffed again and avoided his glare.

"Don't ignore me! This is cool and you know it! Just admit it and-" Sonic instantly stopped his complaining. Shadow noticed the sudden silence and turned to his blue rival.

"Sonic?" he called to him and said hedgehog didn't answer. The blue hedgehog soon started to breathe heavily and fell to his knees, having a hand covering his stomach.

_What's wrong with me?_ Sonic thought, anxiety masking his whole face. His stomach tossed, turned, and flipped and he began to feel sick. Quickly knowing what was happening, he ran behind the tree he was just resting on before and began to retch, dropping his half-eaten apple in the process. Eyes widening, Shadow dropped his apple also and ran to the blue hero's side after he had finished throwing up.

Sonic panted heavily with his head hanging and eyes closed, once again on his knees. His stomach was normal again, but it had driven out all of his energy at the moment. Shadow began to examine what he had exactly thrown up to see why he had gotten sick all of a sudden.

The black hedgehog had expected to see little apple bits, but what he didn't expect was a mass amount of a scarlet red liquid. Recognizing it quickly, he turned his head to his blue counterpart next to him with wide eyes.

_Blood..._ The Ultimate Lifeform was about to gasp, but kept it to himself. Sonic had now recovered from his sudden retching and turned to Shadow with his ears folded back.

"Is it bad..?" the exhausted blue hedgehog asked, not even glancing at what he had brought up. The latter hedgehog did not know how to respond.

If he told the blue hero that it was severe, it could lead him back to the frightened little hedgehog he was before after rescuing him from the basement. Yet it was still a bad idea to tell him that it was minor. Sonic could be internally bleeding for Chaos sake! Who would he race and Chaos Blast into the ground then if Sonic dies from internal bleeding? Then again, it would be better to not deal with a panic-stricken hedgehog that knew his life was in danger other than a unaware and calm one. The bionic hedgehog took a deep breath and closed his eyes so he didn't have to watch his blue rival's reaction.

"It's fine, just be more careful on what you eat for now, Faker."

Sonic tilted his head a bit to the side like a confused puppy, although the latter hedgehog couldn't see that with his closed eyes.

"Like what?"

"...Meat." Shadow opened his eyes again and Sonic couldn't help but grin as he stood up.

"You're worried about me, aren't ya?" he joked, Shadow completely unprepared for that sort of question and flinched.

"And why would you think that?" the black hedgehog countered with another question and Sonic snickered.

"Ehh, no reason." He shrugged his shoulders and his rival narrowed his eyes at him threateningly. The blue hero chuckled at that.

"So, did you find anything that can help us track down the site?" Sonic got back on track (lol pun intended), relieving Shadow from that awkward subject before. Without a word, the black hedgehog tossed his blue counterpart the tracking device (who expertly caught it like a boss again) and crossed his arms over his chest like usual. He watched as the blue hedgehog began to push random buttons, hoping that the latter hedgehog knew what he was doing. After a few clicking and a few beeping sounds later, Sonic looked back up at the bionic hedgehog with a triumphant smile.

"Found it! I tracked the signal of the latest broadcast. It's that way," he announced and pointed a gloved finger in the direction behind Shadow and in front of him (let's just say it's North lol...). Shadow couldn't help but give off a small smirk, glad to finally get this over with.

The black hedgehog whipped around to face the desired direction and sped off without responding to his blue rival. After a while, he looked to his side and was surprised to see that Sonic wasn't there. He looked to his other side and saw that The Blue Blur wasn't there either. The black hedgehog finally looked back, positive that his rival hadn't had passed him without him noticing. And there he was. Sonic was actually following _behind_ him. Pretty shocking for the bionic hedgehog. They were usually side-by-side when they were not actually racing each other. Shadow was going the speed they usually run, but Sonic seemed to be going slower than usual. Slowing his pace, the antihero was next to his blue counterpart.

Shadow never said anything; he only gave the blue hedgehog a questioning look. Sonic noticed this and sighed.

"I'm only admiring the scenery, I'm fine," he tries to reassure the latter hedgehog with a lie. Shadow lets out a scoff and says what The Blue Blur feared he would say.

"Then speed up, hedgehog. We don't have all day. You can admire the scenery when we're running back," the black hedgehog said sternly and sprinted ahead, looking back to make sure his rival listens.

Truthfully, Sonic couldn't run as fast as he could at the moment. Whatever he had thrown up had drained all his energy and left his bones and muscles aching. Yet he still pushed himself to run faster. Excruciating pain traveled through his legs, feet, and lungs as he forced himself to run to Shadow's side, wincing with his eyes tightly shut and jaw clenched. Shadow noticed this and knew that something was wrong. What he did next was something he would regret later.

Sonic soon felt something other than pain and tiredness. He felt a sense of warmth wrap around his left gloved hand, and he felt a bit of his pain ebb away. He slowly opened his eyes a little bit and noticed that Shadow was gently holding his hand, keeping him in pace with the black hedgehog. The blue hero blushed lightly at the gesture, but made it disappear as quick as it came.

"I can take care of myself, you know!" Sonic shouted over the rushing wind, which would sound like a whisper to any other Mobian, but Shadow could hear it clearly with his sensitive ears.

"Then let go," The black doppelganger only replied, not even turning to face the latter hedgehog. Sonic felt the other's grip loosen even more than it was before.

Sonic really wanted to let go to save some of the little dignity he had left, but he could really injure himself in the process. With the speeds they're going, Sonic couldn't nearly match. He could either be sent tripping and possibly break some bones from the fall at these high speeds or start stumbling until he hits a tree or some other structure. Not the best idea, especially with all the pain he's already in.

Knowing he had only one good-resulting option, he actually formed a tighter hold on Shadow's hand. The antihero smirked in triumph and continued to lead Sonic toward the murder scene. Sonic kept his head bowed so his dark rival couldn't see his flushed cheeks and gaze that focused on the ground more than anything.

* * *

~Back at the house with Tails, Rouge, and Knuckles~

Stinging pain and dryness was in his lungs. Waking up from the sound of distant coughing, Tails sat up in his bed. He tried to open his eyes, but he felt them sting every time. He took a deep breath and instantly regretted it with a fit of coughing. Yet he could smell a familiar smell. If his eyes were open, you would see them widen in unbelievable fear.

The twin-tailed fox jumped out of his bed like lightning and took flight in the air with his two tails. He swung open his bedroom door and soared out, coughing continuously. Everywhere he went burned his fur with unbearable heat. His ears could pick up the sound of wood cracking and crumbling. The sounds of others coughing could also be heard, and Tails flew towards the distant coughing. Cracking his eyes open a little even though they stung, bright reds and oranges the lined the walls could be seen. Reaching the guest room, the kitsune barged in, Rouge and Knuckles whipping their heads around to face him.

"Fire!" Tails gasped, panic in his light blue eyes.

"We've gotta get out of here!" He flew over to land beside his two friends.

"I think we know that!" Knuckles yelled over the roaring flames. Tails ignored the comment and instead grabbed both of their hands with his own, rushing them out of the room. Even with the house now looking abnormal due to the fallen boards from the walls and ceiling, the twin-tailed fox still knew the house by heart. He had to dodge several flaming structures and make sure that his friends following behind him were safe as well. They were approaching the front door.

To Tails' horror, the sound of huge splintering was loudest at the front door and a huge blazing wood board fell from the roof, landing in front of the front door and blocking their exit. The kitsune soon remembered the back door and lead everyone to it, but to his disappointment, it was blocked as well with other boards.

"I'm not going to stand here and die like this!" Knuckles roared and pulled himself out of Tail's grasp. He ran to the front door, bracing himself for his next actions. Balling up his fists, he began to punch the burning wood out of the way of their exit. The fire on the wood burned through his gloves and burned his hands underneath, but the red echidna forced through the pain. Tails and Rouge watched their friend in awe. Once all the wood was moved, Knuckles was left with horribly scarred fists. Rouge picked him up and flew out of the flaming house with Tails following. All three of them collapsed on the ground once they were a safe distance away from the house, coughing out the smoke and breathing in fresh air.

After regaining some air, Tails sat up in his spot. His tails were drooping with exhaustion and his eyes were now red from the stinging smoke. They soon widened when he remember two certain supersonic hedgehogs.

"Sonic and Shadow! Where are they!?" the kitsune asked the exhausted echidna and bat while whipping his head around, hoping to spot a mound of cobalt blue and black and red fur in the intense sunlight. Both of his friends shook their heads, meaning they have no clue. Tails looked back at the collapsing house with a sad, but hopeful look.

_Sonic, Shadow, please be alright wherever you both are now..._

* * *

~Back with Sonic and Shadow~

There it was, finally. Both supersonic hedgehogs stood on a hill, overlooking the region of the small neighborhood. In the distance was the flashing of police sirens and the bright yellow color of caution tape.

Sonic was back to grinning with a confident emerald green gaze and not-blushed face while Shadow had his normal stoic expression. Both hedgehogs walked down the hill and headed towards the house of the murder. Residents of the small neighborhood exited their houses to see the two heroes, since Shadow has changed sides. Most gave them odd, confused expressions, but otherwise gave them welcoming smiles and joyful cheers. Although both were confused by this, they never said anything to each other nor the residents. Soon enough, they approached the house.

The house had a beautiful light violet painting on the walls with a baby blue front door. In the front lawn was a small garden with flowers and hedges lining the walls. A line of white picket fences lined the entire front lawn with a gate in the middle to let them in.

The news crew was still at the house, the van just parked outside. The News Reporter from before, Roxanne, stood at the front door fixing her mic, not even noticing the two heroes were there until they approached her. Startled by their sudden appearance, she still politely greeted them with a sweet smile.

"What a pleasant surprise! It's an honor to meet you both! Hiya, my name is Roxanne the Fox, News Reporter." The pure snow white fox held out her gloved paw, which both Sonic and Shadow shook.

"We're all so glad you're here now! I'm sure you- oh, umm..." she stopped, glancing downward with her ice blue eyes. The two hedgehogs looked at her with baffled expressions, which made the whole situation even more awkward for the poor fox.

"Erm, are you two...?" Roxanne paused with her gaze still on the ground.

"Are we what?" Shadow began to grow impatient, practically glaring at the fox.

"You know..." she looked up shyly at them and pointed a gloved finger at their general direction. Sonic and Shadow looked and finally realized why everything was so awkward.

They were still holding hands.

At that, both supersonic hedgehogs disconnected their hands and jumped away from each other, Sonic hacking in disgust and Shadow just spitting out curses. Roxanne just watched the scene play in front of her, honestly not knowing what to think anymore yet amused at their childish actions. It humored her even more when they started to yell at each other.

"What the heck, Shads!? Why didn't you let go?!"

"Why didn't _I_ let go? More like why didn't _you_ let go!? **You** were the one holding on **my** hand, you stupid hedgehog!"

"Was not!"

"Was so."

"Totally wasn't!"

"Was too."

"Nuh uh!"

"Mhmm."

"You're such an ignorant, know-it-all hedgehog!"

"I think you're describing yourself, Faker."

"Stop calling me that!"

"I can call you whatever I want, hedgehog."

"Then I shall call you Fluffy!"

"If you even dare, I will Chaos Blast you straight back to Hell."

"Aww, does Fluffy not like his new nickname?"

"Fluffy" was intimidatingly approaching his blue rival with his crimson eyes blazing with cold fury. With clenched fists, the furious black hedgehog was about to beat the shit out of Sonic, who was now nervously grinning and bracing himself, but stopped when they both heard the sound of giggling. Both realizing that they were bickering in public, they whipped their heads around to face Roxanne. She had her gloved paw covering her mouth to stop her from bursting out laughing and they could see the edges of her mouth lined into a smile. After relieving the giggling out of her system, she regained her senses.

"So, are you two, ya know, together, or...?" Roxanne hesitantly asked, pretty sure that she already knew the answer after that. Shadow was about to open his mouth and answer with a straight-forward 'no', but the blue hero beside him answered for him.

"Yes, of course we are!"

At least an answer he wasn't going to say before or was expecting.

Shadow's crimson pupils were now pea-sized after hearing Sonic's reply. In too much shock, he had seemed to lose his voice and didn't say anything.

"Oh, you are? I didn't think you two were after all that before..." the now confused fox stated.

"Oh, that little scene before? Pfft, that was all an act. We were actually hoping to keep this a secret, but you seemed to find out, dang..." Sonic looked bummed and kicked a leg in an act of defeat. The snow white fox gave the blue hedgehog a genuine smile.

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me! I may be a reporter, but I can still keep a few secrets." Roxanne winked at him and he was back to grinning.

"That would be great! I'm pretty sure Fluffy over here wouldn't like the secret being passed on, hehheh." Sonic made sure to use his black doppelganger's 'new nickname', making the fox giggle.

A horrible pain filled Sonic from his ear as the latter hedgehog next to him grabbed his right ear and pulled on it, pulling harder every time he tried to get out of it.

"Excuse us for a moment, I need to talk to my _partner_ real quick," Shadow said through gritted teeth and before the snow white fox could answer, he dragged the struggling blue hedgehog by his ear away from her to the far end of the lawn. Sonic started to burst out laughing after being released from his dark rival's grip and being out of Roxanne's earshot.

"What in the actual fuck are you thinking?" Shadow snarled at the laughing blue hedgehog next to him. It took several moments before Sonic stopped laughing and could respond.

"Heh, this is payback for carrying me to my room before," he replied, placing his gloved hands on his waist. The black hedgehog clenched his fists again while the blue hero stuck his tongue out at him.

"Hmph, what if I just told her that you were just lying?" Shadow smirked and narrowed his eyes at his rival, Sonic copying those actions a second after.

"I was prepared for that question. You won't be getting this back if you do."

The Blue Blur reached into his cobalt blue head spines and carefully pulls out his hand again. What he holds is a neon green Chaos Emerald in his hand, Shadow losing his triumphant look.

"How the hell did you get that!?" The Ultimate Lifeform yells in a hush voice so nobody else around hears.

"While you were getting the signal tracker, I simply ran to your house and snatched it. Oh, and nice hiding spot for it. Right in the open on top of your dresser is the perfect spot to have a Chaos Emerald, Fluffy," Sonic explains, tossing the shining emerald in the air repeatedly and catching it again each time. Shadow mentally slapped himself for forgetting to lock the door to his house.

"And stop calling me Fluffy, stupid hedgehog."

Sonic suddenly swiftly grabs Shadow's hand, both of them holding hands again. The black doppelganger's cheeks flush madly, not even the dark fur can hide his blush that was the color of his stripes.

"Nope, now play along or your precious Chaos Emerald is mine." The blue hedgehog smirked, but changed it to a bright smile as they walked back over to Roxanne, who had her back towards them. Thankfully she didn't just not hear their conversation, but see anything as well. Tapping her shoulder, the pure snow white fox turned to face Sonic and Shadow again. Before she could see, Sonic had quickly hid the Chaos Emerald back into his head spines.

"Great, you're back!" Roxanne smiles at them both. Sonic returns the smile, while Shadow keeps his gaze fixed on the ground, deep in thought and blush gone. The blue hedgehog tightens his hold a little on the antihero's gloved hand in an act of reassurance. It didn't help at all, although the black hedgehog did look up at Roxanne with his usual stoic face. He couldn't help but think on how he didn't sense the Chaos energy from the emerald. Well, maybe the energy was being instantly transferred to Sonic, so he couldn't sense it fast enough. (*gasp* You're too slow! XDDD)

"Are you two ready to go inside and see?" Roxanne says hesitantly, not wanting to go inside herself. They both nod, quite unsure on why she sounded so nervous. Soon enough, all three Mobians walked inside the pretty house, the two supersonic hedgehogs unaware of what they're about to see next.

~End of Chapter 6~


	7. Chapter 7: Troubled Sightings

**Author's Note: I'm so glad you all are enjoying my story! Your reviews really matter! ^^ (I always read the reviews! XD) It fills me up with so much joy to see all the positive comments about my story! :3 I really don't know when this story will end, but it will be a long while before it is finished, so hooray! :D Now for something new I'm starting...**

**Responses to Reviews:**

**ShimmeringKnight~ I'm glad that you enjoy little Fluffy and yas, Fluffy shall forever be his name! ):3 MWAHAHAHA I'm so evil to poor Shadow! XD**

**windstorm-5**** I'm glad that you had a little laugh at the Fluffy part! XD I really appreciate you calling this a great story and yes, it shall continue! ;D**

**Sorry for the short chapter and that I don't update as much now! I'm going through exams at school and it suuuuckksssss. DX But I will get back on track once they're over and Summer Break comes, yay! :D XD On with the story! And I also added a little fluff in this chapter as a treat for you guys! ^^**

* * *

**A Sonadow Story:**

**Hero's Heart Corrupted**

Chapter 7: Troubled Sightings

Loud footsteps sounded in the quiet household. Nothing other than the group's footsteps made a sound, the air holding a grimly silence. None of the three made a peep of a noise as they walked.

Sonic and Shadow still held hands, one from a peach arm holding on tighter than the other. This must be the first time that Shadow has heard his blue rival so quiet. He didn't dare make a sound; he liked the silence. On the other's mind, he just wanted to get this over with and go home. Sonic's heart raced with such loud, thumping heartbeats, he was surprised the others couldn't hear it. The blue hedgehog was still very anxious about this, since he wasn't very fond of murdering and killing.

Roxanne soon enough broke the deafening silence.

"It should be down this hallway, if I remember correctly. The bodies should still be there if the police haven't already moved them already." she softly spoke, not even a trickle of her happy attitude from before.

The two hedgehogs never said anything as they stared down the dark hallway. Sonic beginning to shiver, while his black doppelganger kept his composure. This would turn into a nuthouse if he lost his sanity (which would be better as a nuthouse in Sonic's opinion). Shadow also wasn't losing his sanity because he has dealt with this a lot. Nothing new to him.

The black hedgehog soon felt his blue counterpart form a tighter hold on his hand, causing him to turn his head to the latter hedgehog in slight confusion.

_Is Faker actually terrified about this? _Shadow chuckled thoughtfully, more than amused to see his rival so afraid. He knew he had to make his act in being his 'partner' convincing, so he returned the gesture. He felt Sonic relax a few moments later and they both stepped down the dark hallway. Roxanne watched them go, not following them.

The two supersonic hedgehogs soon approached a white door covered in yellow caution tape. Sonic gulped and turned to his black counterpart, holding back a look of surprise to see that Shadow was already staring back. He tried to put on a look of confidence, but his emerald green eyes betrayed his fear. The bionic hedgehog seemed to take no notice in his blue doppelganger's fear and it relieved Sonic. Cobalt blue and Ebony nodded as a signal to enter the room, the door creaking as they entered.

The room was completely empty except for a few portraits that hung on the walls. They were wrapped in clear sheets to keep them clean and preserve any evidence that they might hold. The walls were painted a dark blue while the carpet had an off-white color. Shadow stared around the room with little interest. After all, it was just an empty room with a few pictures. At least one side of the room... The black hedgehog turned to Sonic to see a completely different look on his blue doppelganger.

The blue hedgehog had a mixture of fear, shock, grief, and utter disgust written on his face. Baffled by the unexpected reaction, Shadow looked at where the blue hero was facing and suddenly all became clear. Maybe the room wasn't empty after all. There lied the bodies of the murdered victims, surprising even the black hedgehog.

* * *

**WARNING! May be a little graphic for young readers! I said may! If you wish to not take your chances and not read it, wait until you reach another pair of bold text saying that it's safe! This part isn't really necessary to the actual plot, so it's safe to skip and you won't really miss anything important. Thanks if you read this! :)**

* * *

There were three gray wolves on the ground, one fully grown and the two others pups. Their fur was caked with revolting scarlet blood and plastered against their skin. Their eyes were clouded and staring into space at the roof, mouths gaped in a silent scream that shall never be heard or released. The bellies of the pups were ripped open, showing their torn muscles and _remaining _organs. Bones from their rib cages that were broken apart into smaller bits littered the carpet near them. Some of their internal organs were completely gone and some_ bitten _into. The mother wolf was the same, but in a much worse condition. Scratches covered her body that were _still_ bleeding since they were afflicted on her. Her mangled tail was torn apart from her, containing a few bite marks in it. Looking back at all three wolves again, their intestines were separated from their rightful place and spread out across the floor like flooring.

* * *

**IT'S SAFE! Yay, back to the real story! :D**

* * *

Shadow couldn't help but try to hold down the food he had left in his stomach, while Sonic was already throwing up his at an empty corner of the room. Regaining his composure, the black hedgehog unconsciously walked over to his retching blue counterpart and began to rub circles on his back gently to calm him down. He wasn't sure what he was doing or why he was doing it, but the speedy hedgehog next to him began to calm down and breathe deep breaths. A heavy silence filled the air except the soft breaths from Sonic as the two hedgehogs examined the scene once more, not bringing anything up this time. While the blue hero was too busy watching the bodies, Shadow looked back at the corner where Sonic's "lunch" was. Luckily for him, it wasn't a scarlet red color like Sonic's last mishap and was its usual disgusting color.

Shadow's ears pricked up at the sound of a creaking door and whipped his head around to see Roxanne step in quietly to not startle the two supersonic hedgehogs. Her face was masked with sorrow as she looked at Sonic, who carried the same expression.

"I'm sorry to say, but we all must go. Police orders." the snow white fox admitted and the two "partners" nodded their heads in understanding. Stepping out of the blood-stained room, the trio exited the building.

Sonic was speechless. His green eyes were focused on the ground as they walked, casting a few glaces at Shadow every now and then. His black counterpart never met his eyes neither spoke, his sharp crimson eyes fixed forward and expression unreadable. The blue hedgehog felt more alone with the Ultimate Lifeform's lack of response. Frowning and keeping his eyes fixed on the ground, Sonic trailed after Roxanne as she led them away from the building and past the yellow caution tape.

"I guess I better get going. The paperwork back at the station isn't gonna work on itself, you know!" Roxanne tried to lighten up the mood, earning a chuckle from Sonic and an eye roll from Shadow. "It was nice meeting you two! Bye and be safe!" she smiled and started to walk toward the News van that was a yard away from them. The snow white fox suddenly stopped when she reached Shadow and whispered, "Take good care of Sonic. I can see that he's not himself."

She moved away from the black hedgehog and gave Sonic one last wave in farewell before hopping in the van and driving off. The blue hero, unaware of their little pep talk, simply waved back as she drove off and turned to his black doppelganger with a small grin. He carried a grin, but his eyes were dull.

_So I'm not the only one that has noticed his strange behavior,_ the bionic hedgehog thought as he locked eyes with his rival. He saw that the usually shining emerald green eyes were dull with sorrow, yet Sonic still grinned. He frowned even more at that and sighed.

_Again with the act,_ Shadow growled in his mind. The antihero couldn't wait to get to his home, rest on his favorite couch, read a book and forget this ever happened.

What held him back from just running home was Sonic once again. With the blue hedgehog being unstable, he didn't expect for him to get home without something else horrid occurring.

_Or the murderer getting him_, he shook away the thought as quick as it came. Surely Sonic could take care of himself if that ever happened, even with his unusual behavior. But still, better to be safe.

"Let's get you home. The sun will be setting soon." Shadow grumbled as he crossed his arms over his fluffy chest, watching the speedy hedgehog closely for a reaction. Sonic's eyes lit up, but quickly went dull as quick as it came once more. Had they lit up because he was going home, or that Shadow was coming with him?

His eyes soon turned to full-blown mischief as he flashed his black counterpart a wide smirk.

"Getting a little protective, eh? Looks like Fluffy is getting a little soft, hehheh." Sonic teased and snickered, getting an eye roll from "Fluffy".

"Don't push your luck, hedgehog." The Ultimate Lifeform smirked along as both the supersonic hedgehogs walked in the direction of Sonic's house. Tossing his arms behind his head like a headrest, Sonic walked beside his dark rival, wearing a genuine grin this time with his eyes looking straight forward.

"By the way Faker, hand over my Chaos Emerald since I followed along with your 'scheme' before." Shadow pointed out in an amused tone.

"Nah ah ah! Say it right!" The Blue Blur wagged a finger in the air while glancing playfully at the bionic hedgehog. Said hedgehog sighed and facepalmed, knowing exactly what he meant.

"Give me my damn fourth Chaos Emerald." Shadow quoted shamefully and the blue hero next to him chuckled.

"If ya want it, ya gotta catch me first, haha!" The Fastest Thing Alive laughed and dashed ahead a millisecond after with a slightly ticked off, but amused Ultimate Lifeform just behind.

Out of the neighborhood and back on the moorland, Shadow the Hedgehog still was chasing after his blue rival with the smallest of grins on his tan muzzle. Sonic was only a little bit ahead, his emerald green eyes gleaming with joy like real emeralds. Shadow threw himself at the beaming hedgehog and bowled into him. Both of the laughing hedgehogs tumbled down the moorland hill. They both gained some cuts on their elbows and knees on the way down from the terrain, but neither cared. They finally hit the bottom after a bit, Shadow landing on top of Sonic. Blue and Ebony continued to laugh until they started to calm down and locked eyes. Emerald green shined with unmasked happiness while crimson red mirrored it.

Sonic had never felt happier since the incident in the basement, although he didn't remember the event very clearly. He was actually glad that Shadow had come along with him back to the house. The antihero felt the same about coming, although he would never say that out loud. Both proceeded to stare at each other, not even disturbed by their closeness.

Sonic soon felt something slide into his head spines, slithering between the quills with ease. He would have flinched if he didn't already know what it was. You guessed it; Shadow's gloved hand was in search for the hidden Chaos Emerald in the mass of cobalt blue spines. The blue hero let his black doppelganger weave through his quills. After all, Shadow did follow along with his plan. Pulling the neon green Chaos Emerald out of its hiding place, the holder looked down at the pinned blue hedgehog underneath him with gleaming crimson bulbs of triumph.

"Caught ya."

"Well played, my rival." The pinned hedgehog grinned, kicking off Shadow and lifting himself back up. The latter hedgehog scowled as he hit the ground and threw a glare at Sonic while getting back up as well. The blue hero simply smiled while placing his gloved hands on his waist. The two supersonic hedgehogs continued walking through the moorland while mingling every now and then when they had something to bring up.

The sun was setting by the time Sonic and Shadow were nearing the house, Sonic laughing at something Shadow had said. The sky was layered with breathtaking oranges, yellows, purples, and blues. The trees cast cooling shade as the shadows stretch across the land and the leaves fluttered with the gentle breeze. Everything seemed all right with the world then, and Sonic enjoyed it after the chain of bad luck he has been receiving.

Sonic and Shadow were walking down a hill toward the house. The two were hardly paying much attention to anything around them other than themselves, enjoying each other's company and whatnot more than their surroundings. It was hard to believe that they actually knew they were going the right way with them being caught up in their conversation. Both wore smiles (even though one kept complaining it was a smirk to save his pride) across their muzzles. Everything seemed perfect and calm when...

"Sonic!"

~End of Chapter 7~

* * *

**Who do you think it is calling our favorite blue hedgehog? How long with this killing go on? Is Shadow gonna be forever called Fluffy? Find out next time in "Sonadow: Hero's Heart Corrupted"! *cheesy commercial music plays***

**Jk! XD  
**

**But seriously, thanks for reading this chapter! It's super late and super short, which kinda disappoints me. :c But next chapter will be better lolz!**

**Shadow: ****No, it won't.**

**Thunder: Hush, you.**

**Sonic: He's got a point.**

**Thunder: Speak again and I'll have you murder an orphanage next chapter.**

**Sonic: *eyes widen and backs away slowly, holding hands up in an act of surrendering***

**Shadow: *glares at me with crimson eyes as sharp as daggers***

**Thunder: O-O**

**Shadow: *goes to check on Sonic***

**Thunder: Until next time, folks! :D**


	8. Chapter 8: Friendly Fall

**WOOOOO! SUMMER BREAK! *confetti flies in the air and streamers are thrown around the room* I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did! XD Huzzah! ^^**

**Responses to Reviews:**

**Guest~ You'll just have to read and see! ;D (I'm too cheesy for my own good XD)**

**windstorm-5~ Yea, I feel bad for them, too! D: At least it wasn't someone important, haha. I'm glad you like my story though! That means a lot, honestly. :) You're awesome!**

**I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while! o.o' I had a bit of a writer's block. :3 But I hope you all enjoy reading this chapter! ^^ If you have any suggestions to make this story better, feel free to PM me! :D I'm open for ideas!**

* * *

**A Sonadow Story:**

**Hero's Heart Corrupted**

Chapter 8: Friendly Fall

"Sonic!"

Two small arms were thrown around said hedgehog's blue body, surprising him. The Blue Blur looked down to see his little brother holding him in a firm hug that seemed like he wouldn't let go for a while. Pure worry and concern was written all over Tails' face as he buried his face into Sonic's peach chest. The blue hedgehog soon returned the hug, although he was still utterly confused with the whole situation. Shadow simply watched, being just as confused as his blue counterpart.

"Tails, what's going-"

Sonic choked back a shriek when he glanced up at his house. The roof has completely collapsed, its remains littered all over the floor. Ash covered the floors also where the five once walked. The walls to all the rooms were burnt down as well, showing the inside to every room in the destroyed house. All of the appliances and furniture in the kitchen had either melted from the flames or burned, depending on the material they're made out of. Everything else in every other room in the house had also burned to a pile of ashes, except one thing. Sonic's favorite cobalt blue couch was still standing in the middle of the living room, or what was the living room, untouched. Knuckles and Rouge were at the couch now, Knuckles lifting up the surviving furniture to move it out of the house and Rouge just lying on the couch, annoying the red echidna. Good thing he was carrying the couch so he couldn't try to throw any blows at the albino bat other than insults.

The blue hedgehog could only stare at his house in distress. The latter hedgehog next to him could sense his high level of distress, but didn't say anything nor do anything. The black and red streaked hedgehog felt that it would be awkward in front of the blue hero's friends, knowing that they were supposed to not get along with each other. Shadow knew that they had become unofficial 'friends' during their travel to the murder site and he also knew that it would affect him and Sonic's reputations as rivals. He still couldn't figure out how it all even happened. They had been together on many missions and adventures, but they were only known as allies and never really interacted unless they had to talk about something related to the quest they were on. This one had however changed their whole perspective, or how they think of each other now. Quite odd, but true.

"I knew you made it out alive!" Tails released the hug and smiled at his big brother, who smiled back. Shadow could easily tell that it was fake (like Sonic lol, since he's a faker :D), but the twin-tailed fox didn't seem to notice.

"How did this fire even happen?" Sonic asked, trying to act as calm as possible.

Tails frowned a little, but soon began to chuckle. "You won't believe this! We had the fire department over here a while ago and they said that the cause of the fire was, get this... pancakes!"

"...Pancakes..?" Sonic had trouble keeping his voice even, but after so much practice, he still did. He remembered the pancakes he tried to bake this morning for him and Shadow, and had to leave to rush to the crime scene. He had forgot to turn the stove off before leaving and it resulted in burning his whole house down. He basically destroyed his own house. His dark rival was thinking the same thing, but didn't glance at the blue speedy hedgehog. Instead of acting like anyone else would, Sonic smiled down at his little brother.

"Eh, we'll just call the constructors and have them rebuild us a house. Hopefully it won't be as much," he spoke reassuringly and placed a gloved hand on the fox's shoulder, who smiled back up at him. Shadow scowled at his blue doppelganger and turned away from the two. The moment was ruined once again by another shriek.

"SONIKKU! I have found you, my darling!"

Said hedgehog was soon on the ground with his biggest fangirl on his back, her arms wrapped tight around his neck. Although he was trying to untangle her arms from his neck, Amy didn't seem to notice the poor blue hedgehog's struggle for air and just kept death-hugging him.

"I started coming here **right** when Tails called about the fire! Are you okay, my Sonikku? If you were even _touched_ by the fire, whoever started it will pay!" the obsessive pink hedgehog pestered him while letting him get up from the grassy ground, The Fastest Thing Alive gasping for air. The black hedgehog next to the two had to rub his ears a little so he could clear the ringing from Amy's squeal before, glaring at her with a menacing scowl and his back still facing them. Meanwhile, Sonic was nervously grinning at the pink hedgehog, knowing that he was the one who caused the fire.

"Hehheh, thanks Amy, but there's no need for that. And don't worry, I made it out unharmed," The poor blue hedgehog chuckled while Amy grabbed onto his arm, smiling sweetly.

"And hiya Shadow! Nice to see you again!" Amy forced the sentence through her mouth, actually hating the fact that he was here.

All she got in reply was a 'hmph' from the antihero and only made her hatred rise. Whipping her head around to face her beloved hero, Sonic was instead facing his brother, the fox bringing up a very important question.

"Where will we be staying now, since we can't sleep at the house?" Tails questioned as he placed a gloved hand under his chin, the question catching everyone's attention.

"To start off, I wouldn't consider the Master Emerald a home, Knux!" Sonic joked and the red echidna gave the blue hedgehog a not amused look.

"I wasn't going to suggest that, for your information." Knuckles growled, which only made the victim of the growl chuckle. Amy tried to pipe up, but Rouge beat her to it.

"My home is only big enough for one, sorry Blue." The albino bat apologized, but the blue hero only shrugged casually. Tails quickly spoke before Amy again, which was starting to infuriate her.

"I could stay over at Vanilla and Cream's house. I believe they have a guest room for me," he suggested. Sonic turned his head to face his black doppelganger, who shortly returned the gaze with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I already know you have your own arrangements, since your house is still in good shape and not rubble like mine, hehheh. Think you can drop Tails off at Cream's house, since I still have to figure out mine?"

Shadow was silent for a long set of moments. He didn't know whether to respond yes or no, since he was in front of the blue hedgehog's friends. Taking a deep breath, he put on one of the most darkest glares on his stoic face. Sonic began to panic in his mind, afraid that his black counterpart will refuse to help him. He then remembered that he had asked that question right in front of all his closest friends and realized his error. The blue hero had also noticed the quick change in their relationship from rivals to unofficial friends. He kept his cool and looked at the latter hedgehog casually. Shadow continued to glare at his blue rival, but as he did, he swiftly walked over to Tails' side, not glancing away from Sonic.

"You're lucky that your house is burnt down, stupid hedgehog." The black hedgehog deeply growled at the speedy hedgehog. Sonic waved it off as he usually did with a large smirk across his peach muzzle.

"But wait Blue, what about you?" Rouge pointed out with a certain red echidna still pouting with his arms crossed over his chest at her side.

Sonic opened his mouth to speak, but felt his arm get squeezed tight from the pink hedgehog next to him, her eyes shining.

"Sonikku, you can stay at my house until your house is rebuilt!" Amy blurted out with a huge smile across her face, holding onto his arm like she was a little girl hugging a teddy bear on a bad day. Sonic just slightly smiled.

"Problem solved!" he said reassuringly to the group.

Meanwhile, Tails felt the air around him grow uneasy, looking up at Shadow at his side. The black hedgehog was glaring intensely at Amy, who was promising the blue hero she was clinging on that he would enjoy his stay at her house. The antihero's fists were clenched and his crimson eyes were flaming with intensity. Tails took a teensy small step away from him, glad that he was unnoticed from the movement.

The twin-tailed fox snapped back to Sonic when he heard the blue hedgehog's voice sound.

"What are we waiting for? Let's get some rest! It is getting dark, after all." He pointed up to the sky, everyone's gazes following.

_Wow, time did go by pretty fast,_ Tails thought, the sun only a quarter from disappearing behind the moorland hills. As everyone said their goodbyes, he continued to watch Sonic and Shadow and he was surprised. The two hedgehogs were looking at each other, like they were speaking just through looks. Shadow actually wasn't glaring at his blue rival, but was simply looking at him like they never were rivals with an expressionless face and arms _still_ crossed. Sonic on the other hand didn't carry a smirk, but a soft smile. The Ultimate Lifeform soon returned the slightest of smiles to The Blue Blur. It wasn't much, but it was something! Out of the corner of his eye, Tails saw the others parting ways and turned his head away from the two hedgehogs like he never saw them, letting out a cough. The rivals quickly returned to their glaring contest from before, like that scene never happened.

Amy ran back over to Sonic and grabbed his hand in hers, him gaining a nervous smile that Amy never notices.

"Come on, Sonikku! Let's get going!" The pink hedgehog cheerfully said as she started to pull him away. The blue hero slightly groaned and turned to Tails and Shadow quickly.

"See ya later Tails and peace, Shads!" he shouted before disappearing behind the hill.

Tails waved after him happily while Shadow just stared at where the blue hedgehog had disappeared with an expressionless gaze. After standing there for a few moments, Shadow whips around and starts walking in the opposite direction of Sonic and Amy.

"Let's get going, Foxboy." he grumbles without turning his head as he continues to walk. Tails frowns and turns to the dark rubble of the used-to-be house of Mobius' blue hero before flying off after the antihero, wondering if anything worse will happen.

_I need to find out what happened. Where Sonic and Shadow were at, why the house burned down, what has survived, and why Sonic and Shadow were smiling at each other before._

Catching up with the black hedgehog, Tails watched as Shadow pulled his neon green Chaos Emerald out of his upturned spines and raised it into the air with one hand, his other hand holding onto Tails' arm so the kitsune would transport with him with no doubt. At that very moment, something flashed through Tails' mind, something that could be so hugely important, it could solve all the questions he had in his genius mind. The yellow fox's eyes widened.

_The disk!_

"No, Shadow, wait!-"

"-Chaos Control!"

The two Mobians were surrounded by a neon green light, disappearing into thin air in a matter of seconds.

* * *

~With Sonic and Amy~

Blue and Pink traveled slowly in the direction of the city, still traveling through the moorland. Amy still clung on Sonic's arm as she smiled sweetly up at him. The blue hedgehog continued staring up ahead, grinning. He tried not to pay much attention to her because if he does, she usually talks him into some weird topics about them getting married and all that, even though he wasn't really her boyfriend. He just went with the flow, wanting nothing to change. He was happy with the way things were, and wouldn't want them any other way. His thoughts were interrupted when his obsessive fangirl rested her head on his shoulder and sighed.

"Something wrong, Ames?" The blue speedster quickly asked, used to asking this question a lot. The pink hedgehog shook her head with her sweet smile still on her peach muzzle.

"Nothing, Sonikku. It's just when Tails told me that they couldn't find you during the fire, I started to really worry," she breathed out softly, Sonic listening to every word and his grin gone. Amy hugged onto his arm tighter with her smile growing wider.

"But what matters is that you're safe! I don't know what I would do if I lost you!" she cheerfully lightened the mood again as Sonic's grin reappeared on his face and he nervously scratched his head in embarrassment with his other arm. That comment was flattering, but awkward to him, and yet made him chuckle inside. That all disappeared when Amy began to talk again on a subject that he wasn't very fond of.

"You know, they also told me something else that had happened," the pink hedgehog spoke with a small frown. The Blue Blur froze mid-step and turned to face his number one fangirl. He never said anything as she spoke.

"They told me that last night, Shadow had woken them up and said that something had actually frightened you so very badly," she said, staring down at the ground. Sonic's pupils shrunk to pea-sized emerald orbs and his face paled, afraid that she would actually believe them in him was being a huge coward. Luckily, the pink hedgehog was still staring at the ground and didn't notice his expression change.

"They even said that you were shivering and curled in a ball!" Amy continued on and the blue hero paled even more. There was a long pause after that... until Amy began to giggle.

"And after all that, I just told them that they were being silly and hung up to come see you! Isn't that just a bunch of nonsense? I know my blue heroic boyfriend would never do that!" She hugged onto his arm even tighter, and the victim of the hug just nervously chuckled again as his face regained color and his pupils went back to normal size.

The obsessive fangirl then gained a large smirk on her muzzle and she got on her tip toes, getting next to Sonic's ear.

"Speaking of which, boyfriend, can I get a kiss from you right now, with nobody around to see?" The pink hedgehog whispered seductively. The blue hedgehog's ears folded back as he gulped and tried to think of a way out of the situation.

"Uhh, umm... I think we should really get going now! Wow, look at the time! It's gonna be night soon! I'll get a head start!" Sonic pulled his arm free from her hold and pretended that he had a watch on his wrist, which he didn't. Only the tiniest bit of the sun was still visible in the navy blue sky. The Fastest Thing Alive sped off at high speeds the rest of the way toward the city to Amy's house. The deserted pink-furred hedgehog let out an irritated groan and stomped off after him, angry that she still hasn't gotten a kiss from him. As she stomped away, in one of her hands was a camera, in which she was going to take a picture of them if she had gotten the kiss. Who knows what the purposes are for it.

* * *

~At Amy's House~

"Do you have any chili dogs here!?"

Streaks of blue sped around the small kitchen, in search of any ingredients that would finalize in making a chili dog. Amy giggled as the blue hero frantically searched around.

"Of course I do, my darling Sonikku." she sweetly spoke as she stopped The Blue Blur in his tracks and him giving her a confused look. The pink hedgehog walked through the kitchen and reached up into a small cabinet above her, opening the wooden doors and showing all kinds of condiments inside. Sonic could make out the labels of sauce and a plastic bag containing hot dog buns. The blue speedster's eyes lit up with temptation and sudden happiness. Amy giggled once again at the beaming blue hedgehog.

"Since it's your first night here, I will make you your favorite food for dinner tonight. Let me get what I need out and I'll get started!" she said cheerfully and rushed Sonic out of the kitchen so she would have space to cook. As Pink turned around and moved to the fridge, Blue stepped into the living room and made himself comfortable on the couch, which was as pink as Amy. It was fully night now and in a matter of moments, a depressed cry rang out from the kitchen.

"Everything okay, Ames?" the blue-furred hedgehog on the couch called out, looking over the pink couch. Amy came out from behind the kitchen door frame, frowning and having her hands on each side of her face.

"I just looked in the fridge and I'm out of hot dogs!" The pink hedgehog whined and threw her hands down to her sides dramatically. "I don't want to keep you waiting, but I have to go get them to make dinner. I'm really sorry, Sonic!"

Sonic just waved it off with a grin. "No sweat, Amy! I can wait until you get back," the blue hedgehog said casually and kicked back on the couch again.

Amy gained a bit of a sad expression at that. "Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to the store! Pleeease, can you come?" begged the pink-furred hedgehog as she looked at the speedy blue hero with shining forest green eyes.

An uncertain look covered Sonic's peach muzzle at once at that question, unsure of how to answer. Not having enough tolerance anymore, he shook his head with a dull expression now, something like Shadow would use. "I'm sorry, but after the day I've had, I just want to kick back and relax for a bit."

Amy's shining eyes lost their shine and her ears drooped.

"Oh, I'm sorry for even asking the question, I should have known you would say no," she sighed and straightened her dress out before walking out the front door. The Fastest Thing Alive felt a bit bad for refusing to go, but he couldn't do everything. Dead silence filled the house now and the speedy blue hedgehog enjoyed it. He threw back his arms to rest them behind his head like a makeshift pillow. He closed his eyes and put on the smallest of grins. He remained like that for a good 10 minutes.

Sonic's eyes opened again suddenly, his grin dropped to a straight face. The supersonic hedgehog sat up on the couch and groaned, rubbing his head and flattening his ears back. He was hearing a strange static sound and doesn't know the cause of it. It sounded so familiar, like he had heard it from somewhere recently, yet he couldn't think of where or explain why it sounded so familiar. The confused blue hedgehog tried rubbing his ears, flattening them all the way back, and many other methods, but nothing could silence the static noise. His head then snapped up to where he was looking completely straight forward, this action out of his control.

_I can't move my head!_

The now terrified hero wanted to cry out, but he couldn't move his face either. He gulped as his head started to move ever-so-slowly to the corner of the room, where Amy's powerless TV stood.

Sonic stared at the TV for several long minutes with no reason but the fact that his head was moving on its own. He tried countless times to try and jolt his head away using the force of his arms yet nothing worked. The TV stayed in its state, powered off with a black screen. Yet to Sonic, it was like it was calling out to him. This sensation began to grow overwhelming, and he soon gave in to it. His vision began to go black, locked in his own subconscious...

* * *

~With Amy~

Happiness to no end filled the pink hedgehog as she skipped across the deserted part of town she took as a shortcut to the supermarket. She hummed a little tune as she went, her little pink handbag swinging back and forth on her arm. Her arms were behind her with her hands and fingers entwined. The joy of her hero waiting at her house for her to return just filled her with the brightest glee. Her forest green eyes shined and exposed her joy. She began to picture Sonic in her head, welcoming her home. She couldn't help but disconnect her hands from behind her and clasp them together again next to her right cheek, sighing in delight.

"Oh, my darling Sonikku, I'm actually kind of glad that your house burnt down!" She giggled and continued to skip through the deserted shortcut. The supermarket was only a block away.

Amy froze when she thought she saw something quickly go by one of the buildings into an alleyway on her left. Turns out the deserted shortcut wasn't so deserted after all.

"Hello?" she called out and walked over to the opening, but looked only to find nobody there. Now disturbed and her happiness nonexistent, she proceeded to walk toward the supermarket again, looking over her shoulder every few moments. The pink hedgehog then felt a draft of wind on her right side, quickly whipping around and pulling her Piko Piko Hammer out of her handbag.

Again, no one was there. This aggravated the obsessive fangirl, making her swing her hammer at the air a few times.

"Whoever is out there, STOP MESSING WITH ME!" she screamed and did her last swing at the air. She gasped when the hammer suddenly left her hands. The hammer landed two yards away from her, unknown of how it had been separated from the flustered pink hedgehog.

The blunt weapon sat in the middle of the pathway, completely up for grabs. Amy's first instinct was to run for it and be armed again, and she did. She panted as she ran, running as fast as she could in her boots. The sound of a can hitting the ground distracted her and made the pink hedgehog turn her head to look behind her. By the time she turned her head to look back at her hammer, the hammer had vanished from the ground. Amy stopped and was now violently trembling as she frantically searched her area, trying to catch any sight of a figure.

"This isn't funny! STOP IT!" The pink-furred hedgehog cried out and dropped to her knees, sobbing hysterically. She covered her face with her gloved hands and cried into them, hoping that her hero would appear to rescue her from this nightmare.

"Oh Sonic, please help me!" she yelled from behind her hands. It was then a miracle happened.

"Amy!" a voice called out her name.

The voice sounded like an angel's call to the terrified pink hedgehog, because she recognized it instantly. Looking up from her gloved hands, she could see a figure on the other side of the pathway, the moonlight shining on it. Nobody could mistaken the cobalt blue spines, dazzling red and white-striped shoes, and snow white gloves for anyone else.

"SONIC!" Amy cried in relief and got up from the ground, running to her blue hero. She got to him and pulled him into a tight hug, crying tears of joy. Sonic didn't return the hug though. Amy was confused by this and looked up to see his eyes were actually closed, his head lowered to face down at the ground.

"My darling Sonikku, are you okay?" The fangirl said to him, smiling but yet concerned for him. Sonic was silent for a few moments, not giving any reaction to let the pink hedgehog know that he had heard her. She was about to speak again, when Sonic finally returned the hug, and a little tight. He grinned.

"Oh, I'm okay," Sonic said, never opening his eyes to make eye contact with her. What made it more weird is that he said that sentence in a voice of monotone and was starting to hug her really tight. Yet, Amy didn't mind, until a yelp escaped her mouth when she felt something sharp, like claws, dig into her back. Her smile disappeared off her muzzle when she was beginning to find the blue hedgehog's grin growing quite creepy. As she was still looking up at him, he finally turned his head toward her and opened his eyes. She choked back a shriek, knowing nothing would take back what she just saw.

"But you won't be."

There was a high-pitched scream, then a gurgle, then just silence...

~End of Chapter 8~

* * *

**I don't hate Amy! D:**

**So yay(?), first character death! Mwahahaha, what's in store for this gruesome story? ):D**

**Sonic: It's funny how you decided to kill Amy first of all the characters, hehheh.  
Thunder: Pfft, whatever. :P  
Shadow: Be expecting for flames. *crosses arms* Like I care.  
Thunder: But I know what, or who, you care about though. *winks and smirks*  
Shadow: ...?  
Sonic: ?  
Thunder: Until next time, my fabulous readers! ;D**


	9. Chapter 9: Mistaken Signs

**Responses to Reviews:**

**windstorm-5****~ She isn't one of my favorite characters either, but I still have a bit of pity for what I did to her. But I'm glad you love it, and yea, that part was fun to write! XD**

**Hope you all enjoy this chapter! ^^**

* * *

**A Sonadow Story:**

**Hero's Heart Corrupted**

Chapter 9: Mistaken Signs

Loud, rapid knocking woke up the black hedgehog in his slumber. Shadow grumbled and tossed on his other side on his bed, hoping that whoever was knocking would go away, but the knocking continued to become louder and faster by the second. It was sunrise and soon enough, the knocking was going as fast as the sound of Sonic's feet hitting the ground as he runs his fastest. The Ultimate Lifeform yelled for them to stop and go away with some extra choice words, but the knocking only got even faster. Finally, the antihero grabbed his pillow and threw it at the wall with a muffled _poof_, getting up out of his bed and exiting his room to answer the door.

Shadow had successfully taken Tails to Vanilla's house last night, having to tell the rabbit and bunny what had happened. They were delighted to take Tails in and the black hedgehog had Chaos Controlled to home. There have been no word of the others, but they most likely had made it home safe too.

Shadow stepped down the stairs quickly of his two-story house, the knocking still sounding. The irritated black hedgehog approached and flung open the door, getting hit on his forehead by a quick gloved fist. Rubbing his head and growling a bit, he turned to see who his visitor was. Of course, it was The Blue Blur himself, looking quite rushed.

"Oh, sorry Shads, didn't mean it! But quickly, we gotta go!" The flustered blue hedgehog spoke faster than usual. The antihero had to reenact the scene that just happened in those short few seconds in his head to in order to catch what Sonic had said, both due to his recent awakening and the blow to the head. He shook his head and gave his blue counterpart his trademark stoic face.

"What do you mean 'gotta go'? To where?"

"There was another murder down in the city and we gotta go check it out! C'mon, let's get going!" Sonic grabbed his dark rival's arm and started to pull him out of the house, dragging him outside of the house, wanting to get there as fast as possible unlike the first time they went to check out a murder scene. Shadow yanked his arm out of the blue hero's grip, scowling.

"What do you think we are, Mystery Inc.? I'm not going to be coming along with you every time a murder occurs. I have better things to do than to tag along on your stupid little hero calls," the Ultimate Lifeform darkly spoke to him, quite unnatural according to yesterday. Sonic actually flinched from the darkness in his tone. The blue speedster sighed.

"Look, this one is personal," he said softly, the rush now drained from him.

Shadow was taken aback by the sudden change, but didn't show it. He continued to glare at his blue rival as he spoke.

"Tails is actually there now, waiting for me. He told me this morning about the murder when he came over and that it was someone I know that had been.. taken from us. He won't tell me who though. I just told him to go ahead without me while I got ready," Sonic said in all seriousness. This was something that hardly anyone ever saw from the blue hero, and it seemed uncharacteristic of him. Shadow never said anything for a few moments as he tried to process all of this.

"And I think Amy must have gone too. She wasn't anywhere in her house this morning."

Like Shadow cared though. He hoped that she was the one that had gotten murdered out of the group of friends Sonic had, but he didn't know why. They weren't friends, but he hasn't hated her this much until recently. The antihero caught sight of his blue doppelganger turning his back to him, getting into a racing stance.

"But you're right though. It was worth a shot." The blue speedster turned his head away, but whipped it back a second later.

"Oh, and one more thing." There is a small silence between the two supersonic hedgehogs, both staring at each other. "I guess we're even, in a way."

A cobalt blue streak zoomed off before Shadow could ask him what he meant. The dark rival of the blue hedgehog lived in a forest-like area, so it wasn't long before the blue streak went behind a tree and vanished. The Ultimate Lifeform crossed his arms over his chest and went deep into thought for a couple of moments, staring at the tree that Sonic had disappeared behind. Sighing, he turned around and entered back into his dwelling, closing the door behind him.

* * *

~With Sonic~

The sound of the wind blowing in his ears as he ran and the sound of his feet hitting the grassy ground below him calmed him, being two of the sounds he would always love. Dodging trees wasn't much of a hassle for the speedy daredevil. _Well, that was a fail,_ Sonic thought, thinking back to his short visit with Shadow. He had thought that after their last trip, the black and red-streaked hedgehog would have accepted to go with him, but yet he declined. Sonic guessed that his black counterpart was just trying to get things back to the way they used to be, with them just as rivals, although he didn't know why he would want that. At that thought, he didn't even know why he wanted Shadow to come with him.

_Ugh, must be the headache I woke up with this morning._

The blue hero had entered the moorland that they have tread over so many times. Sonic felt at home here, just a free open space to run, with the exception of the few apple trees here. The city looked small in the distance than what it did when you were actually there. Crossing the hills, Sonic ran directly in the direction of the city, not excited to see who had been exactly killed.

* * *

~In The City~

Sonic didn't know where the site was as he ran all around the city. He had to dodge cars as they went by and avoid bumping into civilians. Whipping out the communicator earpiece that Shadow had tossed to him yesterday from his cobalt blue spines, he rerouted it to contact Tails, knowing that the twin-tailed fox always had some kind of communicator on him.

"Man, I really need to get a cell phone," the blue hedgehog chuckled to himself and put the communicator on his ear, holding down a button on it to speak.

"Tails buddy, can you hear me?" Sonic spoke as he ran, turning down a block.

It was only a matter of seconds before the speedy blue hedgehog heard something like the other end trying to put the communicator on. The voice on the other end instantly made Sonic grin, something that he hasn't done at all this morning.

"Hiya Sonic! When did you get another communicator?" The voice of Tails spoke on the other line.

"Just a little somethin' Shadow let me use yesterday, hehheh. He never told me I needed to return it." He unconsciously grinned even more at the mention of the antihero's name.

There was a long silence on the other line, so Sonic decided to get to the reason why he even contacted Tails in the first place.

"Anyway, where are ya at? I've been looking all over the city for this site!" The Blue Blur ran across a street and had to dodge a car as he said that.

"Do you remember when I had that cinnamon roll and I threw up from it, and you slipped and fell in it?" Tails couldn't hold back his laughter and cracked up laughing.

"Ugh, don't remind me." The now embarrassed blue hedgehog rolled his eyes. His kitsune brother laughed continuously and Sonic put on an irritated expression with his ears flattened back. After a few moments, Tails finally had enough air to speak again.

"W-well, we're around that area," he said in between breaths, just knowing that Sonic wasn't very happy with him for bringing up that embarrassing moment.

"Yea, thanks _so_ much for explaining where you are in that way. It's not like you could have said what road you're on or anything!" The blue-furred hedgehog teased and made Tails chuckle a little bit more, even when they're meeting up where a murder was committed.

"Alrighty, I'll see you there in a sonic second!" The Fastest Thing Alive said his farewell and removed his finger off the button on the side of the communicator, taking the device off of his ear and putting it back in his cobalt blue spines. Tails took off the device as well and smiled at it before putting it back on his ear, just in case Sonic called back.

It wasn't very long before Sonic turned around a corner to see yellow caution tape, the flashing red and blue lights of police cars, and police officers everywhere, something very common to him now. He spotted Tails flying above the scene with his two helicopter-like tails, looking for clues.

"Yo, Tails!" The blue hedgehog called up to his little brother.

Tails spun around to face the direction of the call and smiled at him. Descending to the ground, the twin-tailed fox greeted the supersonic hedgehog with a small, little bro hug.

"You're finally here! What took you so long?" The kitsune asked.

"Eh, just had to do a quick stop. Nothing important." Sonic simply shrugged like he didn't care. Tails did the same, then frowned.

"You ready to see?" Tails gestured his hand at a police car, probably the murdered victim behind it, Sonic guessed. The blue hero only nodded as a nervous look masked his face, Tails leading him close. The police officers moved out of the way of the two Mobians, Sonic finally seeing the person who was killed, him putting on a face of agony and falling on his knees.

Surrounded in a huge pool of her own blood was Amy the Hedgehog, motionless with eyes closed, laying on her back to face the cloudy sky. She looked so peaceful in death, looking like she was just sleeping. Several scratches were scattered on her body, some tearing through her dress to show her blood-covered skin underneath. Sonic crawled closer to her and looked at her more closely to see what else this killer can do. From his angle, he could only see the left side of her, which was mainly covered with deep claw marks and rubble from the road. The blue hedgehog looked at her other side, only to retract in disgust. Circular bite marks were bore deep into her skin and more deep scratches covered her, and that wasn't even the worst part. Her _eye_ wasn't just closed, it was stitched shut, along with her mouth too. All the skin on the right side of her face was torn off to show her muscular system underneath and her right eye was missing from its socket, also her right ear gone. Sonic quickly moved back, hyperventilating. Tails walked up behind the panicking blue hedgehog, crouching and patting his back reassuringly, causing Sonic to flinch and whip his head around to face Tails, who gave him a sad look. The kitsune looked back up at Amy again.

"It looks like she was attacked by some kind of animal," he said and his blue brother nodded.

"That's what it looks like to me too." A deep, familiar voice said.

Both the kitsune and hedgehog turned to the direction where they heard the voice come from, which was a dark, shady alleyway nearby. Walking from the darkness into the light of day was Shadow, wearing his usual disinterested expression. Uncharacteristically, Tails gave the bionic hedgehog a glare, while Sonic greeted him with a small wave of his gloved hand as he took deep breaths from his hyperventilation attack.

"S-Shads, what are you.. doing here?" Sonic breathed out as he stood up from the rough floor with his twin-tailed buddy following along. Shadow shrugged.

"Just another day of being Mystery Inc., of course, and because it's my job as a G.U.N agent. What's up with Foxboy?" The antihero turned to look at Tails by Faker's side, Sonic doing the same with his breathing even again.

Tails was still glaring at Shadow. The black hedgehog even took a step to the right and then to the left, the twin-tailed fox's glare following him.

"So smooth, Shadow. You think you can get away with this," Tails finally spoke with his tone dark and his usually cheerful attitude nonexistent. Sonic and Shadow looked at the kitsune, confused.

"Don't act so clueless." The twin-tailed fox spun his helicopter-like tails and rose up in the air, flying up to Shadow to become face-to-face with him.

"I don't get what you're going at. Can you guys ever be clear for once?" Shadow folded his arms over his chest, referring back to what Sonic had said before he dashed off, which is actually the real reason why the black hedgehog followed Sonic to the site.

"Fine, I will clarify myself since you keep _pretending _to not know what I'm talking about." Tails descended back to the ground again. "I accuse Shadow the Hedgehog of being the killer!"

That surprises both the supersonic hedgehogs at such an accusation, catching the police officers' attention in the area.

"Are you sure this isn't some defected robot clone from Eggman like Metal Sonic?" Shadow whispered to his blue counterpart, but Tails heard very clearly.

"I'm sure that I'm not, killer. You've killed people before in the past, and you can easily do it again for your ridiculous reasons. I also saw you back there at Sonic's front yard when we were discussing our sleeping arrangements," the twin-tailed fox recalled as he paced back and forth a few feet.

"You looked like you wanted to kill her then and there, but you didn't. You waited until it was night where you could slaughter her in the darkness where nobody could see or hear her! And why so badly!?" The kitsune stopped his pacing to face the antihero again, pointing at Amy's corpse. Shadow never said anything as Tails spoke, making the blue hero by him wonder if Tails was actually right.

_Had Shadow really killed Amy and is just using me so I will back him up instead of Tails?_

Sonic was pulled from his thoughts when he heard his name come from his twin-tailed brother's mouth. "Come on Sonic, you can't be fooled by his uhh.. '_fondness_'. He's just toying with you. He's a killer and we know it." Tails looked at The Blue Blur, expecting that Sonic would move to his side instead of staying by Shadow's.

Honestly, the blue hedgehog didn't know. He glanced to his side to look at Shadow and his black counterpart looked back, but not with what he expected. His dark rival looked like he didn't even care about what choice he made, having his trademark stoic expression.

_Why can't he just accept the fact that we could try to be friends instead of having to live as rivals for the rest of our lives?_ _We don't have to go back to our old ways! Fine, if he wants it that way, I'll let him, _Sonic scowled at Shadow and turned away from him. He bounded away next to Tails, mimicking Shadow's "crossed arms" look and glaring at said hedgehog.

The bionic hedgehog still looked like he didn't care, but deeply, he felt an unknown feeling of betrayal. _He really believes that I would kill one of his friends? A little harsh, even for me._

"That doesn't prove that I killed Amy. Those are just simple coincidences that seemed to happen. And to add onto that, my tee-" Shadow was cut off mid-sentence by a loud scream.

The producer of the scream happened to be Sonic, who crumbled to the road floor and began to spasm uncontrollably. Extreme amounts of pain bolted through his entire body as he wreathed on the ground, trying to hold back his screams. To describe the pain, it felt like his bones were breaking inside of him and rearranging themselves around his body, yet they weren't. He let out another cry of agony and Tails frantically tried to stop him from moving, the pain rising the more Sonic moved.

"Shadow is trying to kill Sonic now! GET HIM!" The twin-tailed fox shouted at the officers around the area and they aimed their guns at the black hedgehog. He could only quickly let out a "oh shit" before taking off in the other direction of the officers, dodging their bullets and civilians' cars with lightning speed. Car horns blared in his sensitive ears and several sounds of sirens echoed behind the bionic hedgehog as he skated. Roadblocks were set on major roads so civilians couldn't get in the way of the pursuit. Shadow would sometimes lose the cops for a few moments, but more reinforcements would try to intercept him by going down another road and chase him from behind again.

"I can't shake them off! Well, just have to keep trying so I can get out of this insane city," the antihero spoke to himself then groaned when another police car tried to stop him by coming out of an alleyway, only for him to speed up and the police car joining the other police cars behind him. He then felt a force pull him to the left into a different alleyway with him falling on the ground. The police cars didn't notice and zoomed past Shadow, the sound of the sirens fading off into the distance. The black hedgehog 'hmph'ed and stood up from the dirty ground, dusting off his dark fur and turning around. There stood Sonic, who looked well and fine unlike before.

"Faker? What happened back there? How did you get-?" Sonic lashed out his arm and covered his black counterpart's mouth with his gloved hand.

"I'll explain later but now, we need to get you out of here. I'm gonna help you get out of this first. Do you still have that green Chaos Emerald with you?" The blue hero recalled the neon green jewel that he had stolen from Shadow before when heading to the first murder site, all seriousness in his tone and facial expression.

Without a word, his dark rival reached into his upturned head spines and whipped out the shiny emerald from them. "Perfect! Now think of a place and-"

"Shadow the Hedgehog, we now have you surrounded! Drop the emerald and hold your hands up!"

A bullhorn yowled and the only exit from the alleyway was blocked by police and police cars, the other end, unfortunately, being a dead end. Tails was among them, being the holder of the bullhorn and glaring bitterly at said hedgehog he mentioned. Shadow glared just as bitterly back with a scowl and gently put the green superjewel on the ground, but then he was soon on the ground as well, the back of his head throbbing in pain. The stunned black hedgehog looked back and saw his attacker was actually Sonic, his blue counterpart looking fumed with rage.

"What the hell has gotten into you!?" Shadow yelled at the, apparently bipolar, blue copy of him as he stood up again.

"You know what you did! You killed Amy and I will not allow this!" Sonic says loudly and cracks his knuckles.

"But you said that you were going to-" Shadow tries to speak, but Sonic growls and rams roughly into the antihero, shutting him up by knocking all the air out of him and pinning him against the alleyway wall. Shadow grunts in discomfort as his blue counterpart moves his head close to his ear.

"Would you keep it down!? I am going to help you, but we can't let them know that I am! They'll either lock us both up on Prison Island or chase us out of the city and we'll never find out who's causing these murders! Now struggle to make this more convincing!" Sonic whispered intensely and his dark rival finally understood what was happening, struggling just enough to keep him in Sonic's grip still.

Something Shadow noticed was that it seemed like the blue hero had gotten stronger with his upper body, something that the bionic hedgehog had always overruled Sonic in, yet he kept the surprise of his discovery to himself.

"Oh, so it's fine if they lock me up instead," he whispered back with a sneer. Meanwhile during all of this, Tails watched the two supersonic hedgehogs intently with a smirk of triumph in what he thought was Shadow trying his hardest to get Sonic off of him and failing.

"I'm not gonna let that happen. Now, this is what we're gonna do..."

Tails watched as the battle gained more action when Shadow kicked his blue doppelganger off of him to stumble a few feet away. Sonic regained his balance and ducked his head just in time to dodge Shadow's high kick. The Blue Blur smirked and tossed some quick punches at his dark rival, making Shadow hop back to dodge them. Tails cheered for his blue brother, throwing both his hands into the air while chanting his name and dropping the bullhorn in the process, one of the officers being quick and catching it like a boss. Taking this as his advantage, as Shadow was hopping back, Sonic did a low kick and tripped his black doppelganger, knocking him to the ground.

"Sweet dreams, Shads, because you're about to see the darkness of unconsciousness!" The blue hedgehog taunted and grabbed both of Shadow's ankles, spinning him around in a circle and lifting him into the air due to the momentum.

Tails was enjoying every second of this victorious fight, until he caught something in the corner of his eye. As Sonic was spinning Shadow around to throw him into the wall, a quick black and red-streaked arm lashed out towards the ground and grabbed the neon green Chaos Emerald that was set there before. Tails tried to call out to the blue hero, but it was already too late. Sonic released the bionic hedgehog towards the dead end of the alleyway, smirking in satisfaction from everything going to plan. A loud "Chaos Control!" was heard and a white light filled the whole area, The Ultimate Lifeform gone a second later.

Wiping the smirk off his face, The Fastest Thing Alive turned to his droopy-tailed fox bro, Tails upset that Shadow got away.

"Sorry Tails. I should have thought that through. Should've expected that from him." Sonic had to force the sentence out without choking on his own words, hating that he had to lie to him.

"It's fine, Sonic. Now we need to find out why he's even killing all these people and how to stop him." The boy genius put on a thoughtful look.

"But first," Sonic interrupted.

"We need to find out where he Chaos Controlled to."

~End of Chapter 9~

* * *

**Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, my fabulous readers! c;**


	10. Sorry For Disappearance :(

**I'm sorry but this is just an author's note for today. I'm so sorry for disappearing for like.. ever. :( But I reassure you that I have not forgotten about you guys or this story. I just had a lot of difficult things hit me all at once in my life and I couldn't focus on the story for a very long period of time, and I cannot apologize enough. But.. I'm back to writing! :) I promise you that I will NEVER abandon this story until it is actually done, and I don't know when that will be! So don't worry about this story dying out because it won't be, I give you my word! Also, just as a warning, I will be changing my username in a week or so, just so everyone can have a chance to be warned about it. My new username will be Queensonicspeed, so don't freak when you see a random name in your followed/favorites because that's just me! XD That is all and I appreciate each and every one of you for your patience. Love y'all so much for sticking this out with me and I promise to update as soon as I can. :3**


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